It's Always Been You
by Persephone Muse
Summary: While at a bank, Hotch and Emily were targeted and Emily was shot, they had to confront the gunmen and worked to free the hostages. It was during that moment of crisis that Hotch realize he had made a mistake with Beth and that it had always been Emily for him! Will it be too late? Will she make it? Rating T for language. Will feature entire BAU team.
1. Chapter 1

It's Always Been You – Chapter 1

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"No! I'm not letting you do it!"

"It's the only way. You know that. Just let me go."

"I can't. You're my responsibility."

"Don't use that as an excuse. It's gotta be me or the hostages die."

He shook his head, "I can't let it happen…I'll go, Emily."

He saw that her wound began to bleed continuously on her right shoulder.

"Hotch, it's okay." She smiled weakly at him, "Beth is waiting for you, you know. She won't forgive me if I don't get you to the altar next month. And you have Jack to take care of, remember your promise to Haley?"

He nodded his head, tears were pooling in his eyes, "It doesn't have to be you."

She saw them and it broke her heart to see them. She had not seen him like this before and it affected her. But they knew it was the only solution.

"Hotch, there's something I want to tell you. Something I've wanted to say for a long time."

He shook his head, "Then don't say it". His heart was heavy; the last time he had, it was when he'd raced to get to Foyet to try to save Haley and Jack and found that he was too late to save her but he did save Jack. "Save it for another day." He said hoarsely.

"We don't have it, Hotch…I may not have it." She closed her eyes and opened them again. She looked around them and saw the gunman waiting with the gun pointing at them.

"Yes we do…you and I have another day, and another…and forever."

Emily suddenly stared at him, "Hotch…what are you saying?"

Stunned, he realized he had made a grave mistake as he looked at Emily!

"It's you, Emily. It's always been you." He continued to stare at her.

"What are you talking about, Hotch?" She returned his stare and then she saw the expression in his eyes and her heart began to pound heavily. Suddenly, she didn't want to die.

Hotch saw her look of fear and knew she didn't want to die anymore.

He swore that he was not going through this again and yet, here he was in the bank with Emily, and 5 possible hostages.

He could hear sirens in the distant and it was getting louder as they were approaching; apparently an alarm had been triggered. It was possibly too late.

He was too late. He knew he had to try anyways.

But she was proving to be as stubborn as he.

_Damn it! Why couldn't it be someone else?_

_Because the rest of the team was not here!_

Hotch and Emily were at the bank because Emily was due to sign the final paperwork to her house and she had asked Hotch to accompany her to make sure everything was in order; he was acting as her proxy lawyer.

And she'd promised she'd buy his lunch when it was signed and she was the new owner of her first house.

A big step for her; a very big shaky step and she had veered several times until Dave Rossi begged Hotch to intervened and helped her sealed the deal; Rossi was tired of her whining, she had listed the pros and cons of being a house owner so many times that it had driven Dave to seek refuge in Garcia's lair, a very desperate move on his part! And Emily had bitten her nails to the nubs.

Spencer Reid hadn't help either with his copious amount of research into house owner data according to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae; two of the largest financial mortgage agencies.

It literary drove the Italian agent crazy to listen to the young man spout facts and figures over the past several days while Emily sat on the fence trying to decide if she wanted to buy a house. A lousy house, for god's sake! Dave thought! Granted it was a commitment for the long haul, just like marriage but if things didn't work out, there'd be other alternatives. He'd been there; both as a home owner and a married man. He had bought several homes and married three times. So he knew.

She'd threatened to use Rossi's nails but the Italian was quick to retract his hands and keep them in his pockets.

"Please Aaron?" He glared at him.

"Dave, we have a case! I'm expecting a call from the DA from Dallas."

"I'll take the call." He offered.

Hotch stood up and came around his desk as he grabbed his jacket, "You owe me."

"Just name it, my friend." Dave clapped Hotch's back happily.

Hotch turned around and grinned, "You know, Beth and I still haven't decide on a venue…?"

Dave sighed, "Fine, mi casa su casa!"

Hotch chuckled, "Deal, you're a pal! I'll tell Beth, she'll be thrilled."

Dave shook his head and muttered as he watched his younger best friend walked out of his office and down to the bullpen and Emily's desk. "That girl owes me big…" He went back to his office and his work.

…..

As they drove to the bank which was a half hour drive from the Hoover building, Emily couldn't stop thanking him for stepping in to help her.

"Emily, stop." He held his hand up. "It's no problem, I'm only glad to help read through the fine prints."

"I know!" She said excitedly. Hotch grinned as he watched her bounced about her seat. He began to watch the traffic and held onto his seat; maybe he should offer to drive…

He almost leaned over and grabbed the steering wheel when he saw she was straying off the yellow lines and …

"Er…Em…move over…pay attention, please."

"Huh? Oh!" She quickly corrected herself and the car back onto her lane as Hotch breathed a few times rapidly.

Soon, she turned into the parking lot of the bank, Hotch was ever more glad they'd arrived at their destination as he quickly got out of her car as he waited for her and they walked to the building.

She had pushed the double door opened when she felt a sharp pain on her right shoulder and fell backwards landing onto Hotch who with quick reflex caught her fall.

"Watch out Em…! Hotch exclaimed as he looked up and saw a masked man standing on the other side of the glass door, a gun pointing at them.

"Agent Hotchner, Agent Prentiss, one of you get in here unarmed, or all five hostages inside will die. You have five minutes to decide."

Hotch frowned as he saw Emily's bloody shoulder; _What the hell?_ _How the heck did he know him or Emily?_

…..

End of Chapter 1

.

Well? What do you think? Should I go on?


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay…just so you know…this is post Ian Doyle, and Alex Blake is not here in this; Episode 'Hit' and 'Run' has not happen here, so JJ and Will are not married yet. Emily has not been made an offer to London either. So, in other words, this is about the time of Season 7-ish.**

**.**

**Thank you for such an enthusiastic response to this story! Here is the continuation…**

**.**

It's Always Been You – Chapter 2

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"Two minutes, Agent Hotchner, Agent Prentiss." The gunman said.

And to make his point, he held a woman next to him and held the gun to her temple as she whimpered.

"Tell him how many are inside," he said to her as he press the barrel harder into her skin, she flinched and cried out.

"There…There are five of us! Please…please don't kill me!" She begged him as tears began to flow down. "I have a two month old baby at home." Her hands began to shake uncontrollably.

"Now, you have one minute or she dies, her death will be on your conscience."

Emily pulled away from Hotch as she winced hard at her wound, "I'm coming in!" She stood up and handed her gun to Hotch and walked unsteadily to the door. "I'm not armed." She showed her emptied hand while her right hand dangled down but the gunman could see it was empty-handed as well.

Hotch watched her disappeared inside as the doors closed, his heart went with her wishing it was him that had gone in instead of her but she was right; he worked best outside than in there…and he had Jack.

Behind them, three local police cars had driven up were parked up in front of the bank now. The lights were flashing glaringly.

A police man came out of his car with a gun pointing at him.

Hotch held his badge up, "FBI, I'm SSA Aaron Hotchner. There's at least one gunman inside, he's taken a federal agent inside with five possible civilian hostages." He began to take his cell phone out and call Quantico.

"Sir, are you hurt?" He saw blood on his jacket and ground leading to the door of the bank.

Hotch shook his head, "No, the gunman shot my agent. She's hurt."

He frowned and pause for a second before he answered, "Dave, we have a hostage situation at Emily's bank, one possible gunman….I'm outside. Get a response team ASAP and our team too. This is now a priority one."

He paused for a moment, as his hand shook a bit, "Dave, he shot her and she's inside…I don't know how bad she is and the gunman, he's masked and he knows Prentiss and I." He kept his eyes on the tinted glass door.

…..

Dave was thinking of the preface of this latest book when he felt his cell phone buzz in his pant pocket. Pulling it out, he saw it was Hotch; he grinned as he wonder if he'd strangled Emily or she'd finally signed the papers.

"Is the deed done? Or did you shoot her?" He said cheerfully as he answered the phone.

"Dave, we have a hostage situation at Emily's bank. One possible gunman…I'm outside. Get a response team ASAP and our team too. This is now a priority one.

Dave's blood drained from his face; it was not possible, say it was not possible, Aaron was pulling his leg, Emily had put him up to it. She was capable of it, he knew it. She was the master of pranks; she and Derek had been plotting against Reid the last couple of weeks. They had terrorized the bull pen with their juvenile-like pranks so much so that Hotch had fell victim to one of them unwittingly when he had inadvertently picked up Reid's Starbucks coffees and drank it and instantly spewed it all over Emily's desk; it was laced with salt!

Of course, from then onwards, no one had trusted the BAU team to make a Starbucks run anymore.

Dave ran out of his office and shouted for Morgan, Reid, and JJ who then texted Garcia in her office; it was quicker to do so then banging on her door or deciphering her lock.

When they had gathered, Dave quickly explained to them what had happened and they grabbed their jackets and were out of the unit in less than five minutes, except for Garcia who had to pack her computer hard and software.

By the time they had arrived at the bank, SWAT and the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team/HRT had arrived in their giant black buses.

With their FBI badges hanging around their necks, and the bureau KEVLAR vests, Dave and the team came up to meet Hotch who was now standing 20 feet away from the bank.

"Hey," Dave greeted him as he quickly assessed the younger man, "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay, Dave, this is Emily's blood." Hotch looked down at his shirt.

JJ came up and handed him one of their vests. "Hotch, how bad is Emily?"

He shook his head, "She's shot in her right shoulder, that's all I know, JJ."

"Have they made contact?" Morgan came up to him.

"No, not yet."

"Aaron, you said he knows you and Emily…what do you mean?" Dave watched him.

Hotch nodded and told him about the incident leading up to when Emily was shot. He tried to concentrate on the present and keeping it all professional but the constant thought of Emily and her wound was distracting him and driving him to want to charge in there and take care of that bastard and rescue her and the hostages.

_Hang in there, Emily! I'm coming for you._ He said mentally.

He'd find out who that asshole was…and he'd wished he didn't cross his path!

He'd pay for hurting Emily! Oh yes, he'll pay for his life, Aaron had mentally assured him.

And then, he'd sort out the mess he'd made of his own personal life, starting with… Beth.

He tried to bring her image into his head but the laughing one of Emily and then the one of her being shot and bloodied came to mind overlapped Beth's.

"So, he addressed you two by your titles?" Dave frowned. "It could be anyone."

"Who knew you two were coming to the bank?" Reid stood besides JJ.

Hotch shook his head as he tried to concentrate on his team, "I don't know…" Then he narrowed his gaze at Dave and Morgan, "I'd called Beth and let her know I was going to the bank with Emily but Emily was also on the phone."

"You told Beth?"

"Who did Emily call?"

Hotch shook his head, "I was not paying attention. We need phone records on Beth and Emily."

Derek and Dave exchanged odd looks.

"Where's Garcia?"

They turned to the HRT bus, "She's setting up her kids in there." Morgan said meaning her laptops.

Hotch nodded at Morgan, "Derek, get together with SWAT and set up a perimeter, just in case."

"JJ, prepare a statement …and keep the media out of the way for now, we don't have anything for them yet." JJ nodded and headed to the police cars and where the media had parked their satellite trucks. "Reid, scan the crowds, we're looking for anyone who look too comfortable among them, anything that stands out. So far there's only one gunman but there may be an accomplice. Whoever it was, knew our movement before we arrived at the bank." He looked out and saw the beginnings of curious crowds beyond the police cars and the buses that had gathered.

"What are you thinking, Aaron?" Dave asked him.

"I don't know, Dave," he shook his head. "The fact that he was a step ahead of us, and that gives him an upper hand. I don't like being out of control and I intend to find out who's responsible."

Hotch was about to step into the bus when Dave stopped him, "Hey, we'll get the upper hand back, Aaron."

Hotch turned around to face Dave as he held the door opened, "I know, and I will. I'm not going to let someone else have that edge, that's not the way I play." He disappeared inside and closed the door firmly.

Dave looked at the closed door and muttered, "No, he'll turn the table to suit his needs, either that he'll change the rules of the game." He shook his head as he went to meet their Section Chief, Erin Strauss.

…..

Inside the bank, Emily was pissed off as her wound was hurting like hell; she knew the bullet was still lodged inside; Hotch had checked on her injury before she had moved inside, it was not a through and through wound. Luckily, the injury was not near her major organ so she was not in any immediate danger but she still needed to be taken to the hospital.

And it had hurt like a bitch every time she took a deep breath so she began to take shallow breaths which was not an easy thing to do. "Son of a bitch!" She muttered as she coughed and tasted copper. She cussed again and looked at the one of the gunmen.

_Oh shit;_ she realized there were two of them as soon as she entered the lobby.

Question was; who the hell are they?

They had kept the masks on and their voices were not recognizable. Emily had absolute no idea who they were; she knew Hotch didn't either nor that there were two of them.

How was she to send him that message?

It was time to establish contact and figure who was the dominant partner or also known as the alpha of the two.

"Oh hey…any chance you'd tell me who you're?" Emily leaned against the leg of a wooden table.

The first masked man, her shooter, had blonde hair, about 5' 10", 200 lbs. He had a bit of a stomach pudge showing, white tee and jeans, a blue and red long sleeved plaid shirt hanging loose and unbuttoned. Emily pegged him to be about in his mid 30s, unshaven.

Nothing about him struck her as familiar.

She shook her head as she turned to the second man; red-head, about 6 ft, also white tee and blue jeans, he was welding an AK-47 and a 9mmm.

He came to squat by her, "You don't remember me, don't you, Agent Prentiss?" He reached over and checked on her wound. "Looks pretty bad but you'll make it."

"Time to make contact," her shooter said to red-head.

They had taken Emily's cell phone when she had came in and now they were scrolling her phone list and began texting.

He grinned, "I just love texting, it's the American way."

Red-headed chuckled, "You're too funny, dude."

Her shooter shook his head, "I know."

"So, you know who I am and Agent Hotchner." Emily looked at them. "But I don't know who you gentlemen are." She tried to smile through the pain. "So how about first names, that way I don't call you hey, and hey?" She looked at them.

They looked at her through the masks and went back to her phone, ignoring her.

Okay, Emily thought. So far Zero for Emily, One for ass-holes.

"Look, this is between Agent Hotchner and I, and you two. How about releasing these ladies…or at least one of them, I mean you have me?"

The two men exchanged looks and then laughed at her, "Do you take us for fools, profiler?" Pudge shook his head, "Nice try but you'll see soon enough…oh, the ladies stay; I like having them around." He laughed and the other one joined in.

Make that zero for Emily and two points for the douche bags.

She coughed more as the pain intensified; she tried to block it off as she thought of some other ways and in the meantime she hoped Hotch and the BAU team had a solution.

_Come on, Hotch!_

…..

Section Chief Erin Strauss came into the HRT trailer and stood before Hotch, "Agent Hotchner,"

"Chief Strauss," he nodded at her.

"Has the gunman established contact?"

"No ma'am." He shook his head.

"And you have no idea who he is?"

He shook his head.

"And he knows who you and Agent Prentiss are?"

He nodded. "Garcia is going through cell phones records at this moment."

She looked at Garcia who looked up to acknowledge her before diving back to her screen. "Good morning, ma'am. I've got Emily's records for the last ten hours…just in case."

"Anything?" Strauss asked her.

She shook her head, "Nothing pops out, although she did call Declan Jones five times in those past ten hours, and her estate agent she's trying to sign the house."

"Anything else?"

Garcia shook her head, her shoulders sagged, "That's it, I'm sorry."

"Beth Clemmons, Garcia." Hotch said.

She looked at him as she frowned, "Er…"

Strauss turned to him, "Why are you suspecting your fiancée?"

"I'm not but I'm just turning every stones."

Strauss nodded, "Go ahead, Garcia."

Garcia began to mumble, "Last ten hours, she called this number six times," she pointed.

"That is her work at the museum," Hotch confirmed. "And that number is her sister and the other one is her parents."

Garcia was scrolling down the screen and they were reading another number and the name popped up beside it; her eyebrows popped up high and above her eyeglasses, "Oh…Hotch!"

Strauss' brows were shot up too, "Did you know about it, Aaron?"

Hotch's face paled as he read it just as his cell phone rang; it was Beth.

….

End of Chapter 2


	3. Chapter 3

It's Always Been You – Chapter 3

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Hotch stepped away from Strauss and Garcia to answer the phone call from Beth; privately he thought the timing sucked. Every which way he saw it. Damn!

Selfishly, he thought his life was spiraling.

But he couldn't feel that way. Two women now relied on his decision and he would be playing an ass hole to one of them once he'd decided.

But now was not the time to decide.

At the moment, there was a hostage situation he needed to take care of.

Emily was his responsibility as well as a hostage as well as the possibility of others.

"Beth, is everything all right?" He'd let her take the lead on this.

"Aaron, I heard about this bank robbery near Quantico. Are you all right?"

"Not exactly, I can't say much at this moment, Beth but I'm fine."

He could hear she sounded relieved. "I'm glad…and I know you can't discuss much more so I'll talk to you later?"

"Beth…Is there something you wanted to tell me?"

There was a momentary pause and she said, "No, nothing at all, Aaron. I'll see you tonight."

Disappointed, "I love you, Aaron."

"I love you, Beth."

He ended the call and turned to see Strauss watching him.

"She didn't say anything about this?" She pointed at the screen.

Hotch shook his head as he closed his eyes and then opening them again, his expression changed to hardness, "Erin, Penelope, I'd prefer this to be kept in private if you don't mind."

Garcia and Strauss nodded, "Of course, Aaron." Strauss said.

He nodded.

Strauss took a deep breath and spoke, "Now, can we get back to the hostage crisis situation?'

"Yes, ma'am." Hotch said as he reverted back to his professional mentality. "Garcia, can you tap into the surveillance cameras in the bank?"

She nodded as she began to type into her keyboard.

Garcia shook her head as she showed them nothing but fuzzy screens, "Lines disabled…sorry Hotch." She squeaked out.

Grinding his teeth and Garcia could see a pulse ticking on the side of his jaw, she flinched slightly from him as he clenched his fists tightly.

His cell phone rang once as it stopped Hotch looked at the caller ID and frowned, it was a number that was unfamiliar yet he had just seen it a moment earlier.

Why was he calling him?

…..

Emily had glanced up at the cameras and saw they were inactive. She knew they had cut off the feed to the camera systems. The two gunmen; Emily had nicknamed them Red and Blondie for their hair colors.

They were looking out the glass doors outside. Their backs were turned to them.

"Hey," One of the women whispered.

Emily turned to her and smiled, "Yeah?"

She slid her cell phone to Emily and said, "You're FBI, right?"

Another woman gave her a worried look, "What're you doing? You're going to get us killed if they find out you still have your cell phone!" she hissed.

A third leaned over and whispered, "You lied to them!"

"I know we're supposed to give them our cell phones but if she could get us out of here, I'm taking my chances. Here, do what you have to do."

Emily nodded as she began to text a message as quick as she could to Hotch.

Just as she pressed 'send', the cell phone began to ring!

Emily paled as she looked up right away to the two masked men who snapped their heads to her direction and rushed to her.

"Where did you get that?" Red yelled at her as he grabbed the back of her hair and lifted it up to his level.

"I…It's mine. I had two phones." Emily grunted hard as he punched her hard on her jaw, knocking her out of breath while still holding onto her hair.

Blondie grabbed the phone and looked at it and began to read it.

He then shook his head, "Tsk, tsk, this is so not good." He turned to the women as he shook his head, "Ladies, one of you is being a bad girl and you know what happens if you're been bad? Whose is this?" he held the phone up. No one answered. He sighed. "If you admit to it, I'll not do anything to you." Blondie looked about them.

The woman raised a shaky hand, "It's mine."

Blondie nodded, "You're so brave…and so damn stupid." He turned to Red and nodded over to her.

The woman shook her head as she said fearfully as she looked to him and then to Blondie, "You just said you're not going to do anything, right?"

Emily wanted to tell her that it was Red who was still standing holding her hair, was the Alpha, he then let Emily go and went to her and grabbed the woman's arm.

"He said he'll not do anything to you but I didn't. And I'm fucking pissed you lied to us when we ask for all of your cell phones, bitch!" He was walking briskly with her to the front of the bank and to the double doors.

She was crying incoherently, "Wha…what are you going to…me? I'm sorry! To…Ouch!" She winced hard when he squeezed hard on her arm.

Emily saw that she was about to call his name and he had shut her off. _She knew him!_

"I'm about to give you your freedom, Wendy." He said.

Emily frowned; _he'd just call her by her first name!_

The woman turned to Red and smiled uncertainly, "You are? Just like that?" She asked hopefully.

Emily tried to sit up but her wound began to bleed again and she winced, and now her jaw hurt bad, "Hey…don't blame her…I tried to get her to do it. Leave her alone…please."

Blondie came to Emily, pointing his gun right at her, "Shut your pie hole, Agent Bitch. Just watch, you're gonna like this!" He began to laugh. "And yeah, it's all your fault remember it." He said quietly as they all turned to watched them at the front door.

…

Hotch, in the meantime, now received two new unfamiliar numbers, and the second was a text message that was from another unfamiliar numbers but they were local area codes.

He opened the first text and read it; his heart jumped!

Emily! It was from Emily as he ran out of the trailer and looked towards the bank.

He heard Strauss called after him but he ignored her;

2m red/ blnd. ak47/9mm. 5 f htgs. ep

Dave, Morgan, Reid, and JJ saw Hotch and quickly gathered around him.

He showed them the text message.

"Where's this from?" Derek asked.

"It's obviously from Emily." JJ said. "EP is Emily Prentiss, Derek."

"We don't know that for sure, JJ." Derek said doubtfully. "It could be a trap or something."

"Look, guys, so far we have nothing." Hotch began. "Eyes inside have been cut off, I'm still worried about the status of Emily's injury. We have to assume this is from her."

"So," Dave nodded. "Two men, a red head, a blonde. AK47, 9mm, but we don't know how many exact weapons they have. 5 female hostages. That's all that's inside, and that's a good start."

"What do you mean, Rossi?" Derek glared at him.

"It means we have minimal loss."

Derek shook his head, "There's no indicator they're all adult females, Rossi."

"Derek, you can't expect her to text a full and complete paragraph under the circumstances." JJ glared at him. "She might be doing it under duress."

Derek was about to retort when they heard the deputies yelled for them.

"Hey...we have activities from the bank!" They were waving at the BAU team as they pointed their weapons towards the direction of the front of the bank.

The BAU team rushed forward until they lined themselves behind the patrol units, their guns raised to their eye level.

They saw the door opened and a woman with a masked man, his gun pointed to her head, his arm around her neck as they stood by the door.

"As a sign of …good faith," Red chuckled as he said "We're releasing her to you but she'd disobeyed and sent a note to you, Agent Hotchner." He shook his head as he looked over to the BAU team. "She will be punished." Backing away, pointed his gun and shot her in the back of her head as he pushed her down the steps and quickly backed into the bank again and locked it.

The media and crowd gasped out as one while the deputies looked on in shock.

Morgan and Dave rushed to the body as well as two more deputies came over and helped picked up her body and brought her to the paramedics as they had quickly responded to them with a stretcher and their emergency kits.

While they strapped her on, Morgan and Rossi returned to the bus where the rest of the BAU team had gone inside.

JJ and Garcia were still reeling at what they had witnessed; JJ right before her eyes, Garcia over her monitor.

"Oh my…she…"Garcia uttered unbelievably, tears began to flow.

JJ placed her hand on her friend's shoulder and rubbed her consolingly.

For once, Strauss did not say anything as well.

When Morgan stepped in, Hotch walked up close to him and said heatedly, "Do you still doubt the message?"

The bald agent raised his brows as he stood back from his supervisor.

Dave restrained Hotch, "Easy, Aaron."

Hotch eyed Derek for a moment and then turned away from him and took a few frustrated breaths.

No one spoke for at least five minutes until Reid moved to Garcia, "Garcia, can you replay the gunman and try to get a close-up look of him?" He said quietly.

Garcia nodded as she turned to her laptop and screen.

Hotch stood beside Reid as he watched the video as well.

…

Blondie was laughing while he watched Red walked back to his friend and they high-fived each other.

"You fucking bastards," Emily muttered angrily and disgustedly. "How could you congratulate each other after you'd just killed an innocent life?"

Red turned to face her, "Oh, she is no innocent, Agent Prentiss. You are not paying attention, obviously." He turned back to his friend. "She's guilty just like these gals."

Emily looked at the women who looked among themselves. "How do you mean?"

"How do I mean? Well every one of them is a sinner here." He explained.

Red nodded, "Take our recently departed, Wendy, she is married and yet she is unfaithful to her husband."

Blondie shook his head, "And so she was justly punished. God has spoken." They began to laugh.

Emily shook her head, "But how did you know she cheated?"

The two gunmen stopped laughing as they looked at Emily and then turned away from her without answering and they walked to the teller's computer.

"What do you guys really want?" She shouted at them, they continued to ignore her.

She sighed in frustration and turned to the four remaining women.

"Are you familiar with them?" She indicated to the gunmen.

They shook their heads.

"Do you all work here in the bank?"

Two of them nodded, "Wendy…she was the bank manager."

One of them nodded sadly.

Emily nodded too, "Yeah, I'm sorry about that,"

"Hey, how did they know about you?" The third woman whispered to Emily as she scooted over and sat by the federal agent.

Emily shrugged and almost screamed with intense pain, tears came unbidden as she held her right shoulder carefully and found that it was completely numb.

"Hey, are you okay?" One of them whispered.

As the hot pain subsided, Emily panted hard, "Yeah…I'll…be…okay…and ….no….I…don't…know…them…."She swallowed hard as she took shallow labored breaths.

"But they know you?" She said worriedly.

"I …know…I'm…trying…to …figure…out."

"Tracy, you need to let her rest, can't you see she's hurting?" The one woman whispered to her as she kept looking at the gunmen.

"I know, Linda." Tracy said. "I'm just trying to figure out what's going on."

"That's not our problem." Linda said. "Leave it to her," pointing at Emily. "And the police out there. Didn't you see what happened to Wendy?"

Emily held out her good hand, "Okay, just stop," She looked at the other two women who had remained quiet so far. "What about you two? Who are you?"

One of them said, "I came here to deposit checks for my business. I do it every morning."

Tracy nodded, "This is Melanie, she's the manager for the local hairdresser salon shop."

Emily nodded and then she looked over to the fourth woman.

"I'm here to…er…close my account." She said as she looked at them nervously. "I'm job transferring. My mother wanted me to move back to Tennessee; she…she's been worrying about my safety." She began to laugh at the irony. "I just broke up with my boy…boyfriend." Her hands were trembling as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

Emily frowned at her and her nervous actions but looked up when the two turned around and faced them.

"Why are you asking us all these questions?" Linda looked at her. "It sounds like you're suspecting us."

The other three now turned to stare at Emily.

"I'm just getting some things answered, they know who your Bank Manager before he shot her." Emily explained.

"What do you mean?' Linda asked defensively, almost angrily.

Emily shook her head as she breathed hard, "He called her Wendy with familiarity. He sounded as if he knew her well. Have either one of you seen them before today? I mean he might have come in here before to meet her."

Linda and Tracy exchanged looks as they thought hard and shook their heads, Linda spoke up, "No, I've never seen him before."

Emily nodded; she was back to the beginning, she had no idea what their connections to these two gunmen.

…..

"Look at his face, well around the mask," Reid said. They were watching the video Garcia was playing on her screen. It showed the angle of Red holding Wendy in front of him, right before he pointed the gun behind her head. "Okay, pause it."

Garcia moved the cursor to pause the video and waited.

"Look at her expression; she was smiling right before he pressed the trigger." Reid said.

"She knew him." JJ said."

Hotch nodded. "He must have said something to her."

"He must have said something encouraging to her that assured her before he killed her." Dave said. They nodded.

Hotch's phone rang again; they all looked at him as he looked down.

He read the text before he looked up, "Garcia, look at the files, Tommy Summers and Billy Frond."

"What's this about, Aaron?" Dave asked him, the other BAU watched him expectantly.

"They're our gunmen." Hotch announced.

….

End of Chapter 3

.


	4. Chapter 4

It's Always Been You – Chapter 4

.

"Who are they, Hotch?" Dave asked him.

"They're the sons of two high profile foreign diplomats; their fathers are currently serving in South Africa."

"You're kidding me?"

Hotch shook his head.

"Son of a bitch." Derek cussed softly as he gripped tightly on the back of Garcia's chair.

"They're appointed by the President."

"Hotch, look at this," Garcia pointed at the monitor. "The Betty Summers just inherited over $3 millions from her maternal grandmother."

"Where's the money deposited?" Hotch asked her as he removed his gun from the holster.

Garcia named the bank that was Emily's bank. Hotch nodded.

Hotch looked at his team, "I've to go in. I've to try to talk to them. Their fathers have instructed me to reason with them." He placed his cell phone down by Garcia.

"That was the Steve Summers; he'd just received a text message from his son that he's one of the gunmen."

"Agent Hotchner," Strauss came into the trailer and stood in front of him. "How do you know Sec Summers? And Minister Fronds?"

"Steve Summers and Michael Fronds are my law school friends." He revealed."

"And how did they know Emily?" She demanded, after she'd recovered from her shock.

"Their wives are Emily's friends.

"Craps." Garcia uttered.

"You can't go in there, Agent Hotchner." Strauss said. "It's a conflict of interest."

"Erin, it's not. I'm more interested in freeing the remaining hostages and Emily." He removed his vest and handed it to JJ. "Do what you have to do, I'm still going in."

Strauss glared at him, "When and if you come out, we'll talk about it, Aaron. But in the meantime, be careful."

He looked at her with raised brow, "Thank you, I will."

He handed his gun to Dave and said, "Dave, if I don't make it…"

He shook his head, "Save it, pal. You still have a wedding to get to and this is no excuse to get cold feet." He tried to joke but no one was laughing.

Hotch chuckled, "We'll see, Dave. Beth and I have a dinner date tonight and I intend to make it." He removed his earpiece.

"Atta boy," Dave said encouragingly.

He turned to Derek, "You're lead, Derek, just don't charge in yet and get the paramedics ready for Emily."

"Hotch, I…" Derek arched an apologetic look but Hotch shook his head.

"It's okay, Derek. I understand."

He opened the door and walked out.

…

"Hey Jerk face," Emily called out to them. One of them turned to look at her from the computer terminal. "You're at it for a while, how about if you tell one of the ladies what you're looking for, they might help you."

Red pointed his gun and said, "One more word, Agent Prentiss, I'll do you a favor and send you to the under gr..gr…ground." he stuttered as he clutched his heart and went to a bag.

Blondie snapped his head up and looked at Red with concern, "Billy…you okay?" He rushed to him and helped him with the bag.

Red nodded as he said, "I'll be back, Tom…just get it transferred." He rushed away clutching a red bottle.

Emily frowned at the names; Tom, Billy and Billy seemed to have a health issue, and what are they trying to transfer? Money?"

"So, douche bag." Since Alpha was not in the room, Emily thought she might be able to take a crack at him. "What's wrong with your mate? You know, you could get the money transferred faster if you have people who knows how to work it. I mean here's Linda and Tracy, they've worked at the bank and they know how to transfer money, right ladies?" She didn't wait for them to reply and continued. "If you have a code and all, they can help you and get you two out of here in a jiff."

Emily happened to glance over to the Tennessee-bound young lady and saw her getting agitated as she kept looking at Blondie and mumbled to herself.

The two bank tellers shook their heads, "Will you stop aggravating him?" Linda begged her.

Emily grinned at her, "Just trying to have some fun."

They stared at her as if she had lost it and looked up at him.

"Maybe he should shoot you instead of Wendy." Tracy grumbled angrily. "Why didn't he, I just don't understand it." She shook her head.

"You know," Emily said. "I don't understand it too. Why is he keeping me like this?"

"Hey douche bag!" Emily called out. "Why are you leaving me alive? What's the purpose? Are you afraid your mommy and daddy are gonna ground you?" She muttered deliriously.

Red whipped his head to her as he pointed his gun to her, "I said shut the fuck up."

The women groaned.

Just then someone was banging the glass door, startling every one inside the bank.

"Tommy!" It was Hotch! "Tommy Summers! Billy Fronds! This is Agent Hotchner! I have a message from your fathers!" He banged on the door again. "Let me in!"

Tommy ran from the computer terminal to look at the door, "Fuck! Son of a bitch!" He shook his head as he ran to the bathroom, "Billy! Get out of here! We have a problem!"

Hotch continued to bang on the door as he shouted.

Billy came out of the bathroom and panted. "Well, if he wants to come in so badly, we'll let him in."

Tommy nodded as he walked towards the front.

"Wait!" Billy stopped him. "He comes in unarmed and he'll be a little discomforted." He laughed.

Emily tried to sit up when she heard his implication, "NO! HOTCH, DON'T COME IN" She yelled out.

"Shut it!" He pointed the gun at her.

Tommy opened the door as he pointed the gun, "Get in and locked the door." Hotch did as he was told. "Get your hands up." He raised his hands up. Tommy began to search him and as he made Hotch turned around, Hotch saw Emily for the first time since she'd been shot and he almost wanted to hit Tommy!

Half of her shirt was drenched in her blood; he saw she had placed her right hand on her lap as if she didn't have any use of it. _Damn these boys! If something happened to Emily…he'd make them pay! Diplomats be damned!_

"Now, you can join Agent Prentiss over there." He pointed to Emily.

As Hotch walked to Emily, she was shaking her head as a warning but Hotch didn't know what was coming as Tommy raised his gun and fired into the back of Hotch's right thigh!

"No!"Emily screamed! "Hotch!" She watched him fell to his left side as he clutched the back of his thigh. The other women had begun to cry again.

"You fucking jerk!" Emily yelled at Tommy. "You didn't have to do that!"

Tommy came to her, "No, I didn't but I did, what're you gonna do?" He used the barrel of the gun and pressed it down on her wound, causing her to scream in pain. He laughed at her, "No so tough at all, aren't you, Agent Prentiss."

"Leave her alone, Tommy." Hotch gritted his teeth as he stood up and limped to her.

Tommy stood up as well and walked back to the computer terminal where Billy was.

"Emily, Remember Gail Summers? And Betty Fronds?"

Emily nodded.

"That's their sons. Tommy Summers and Billy Fronds.

Emily turned to look at the masked men and turned back to Hotch, "That's Gail and Betty's kids?"

Hotch nodded.

"I'm gonna kill those snot-nosed brats!"

Hotch chuckled, "Em, you're in no condition to even spank them."

She frowned, "I can if you'll help me up." She began to move but sat back and gasped.

Hotch shook his head, "Don't move, you're bleeding again." He reached over and pressed on it. "You need to get to a hospital, Em."

"Tell it to Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum."

Hotch chuckled at her nicknames for the two men, "They had always been a bear to their parents."

"But never like this, Hotch. They have gone too far."

"Yeah, they have to pay for it, this time. Mike texted me earlier and asked for leniency." He shook his head. "This is beyond me, Em. I can't help them."

"They have to face their consequences. Breaking and entering was fine, we could but murder? And maiming federal agents," She shook her head. "Yeah, beyond leniencies, more like life without parole."

"But first, a message from dear old dad." Hotch said He looked up to them "Billy," Hotch looked at them. "Your father wanted me to tell you that he forgives you for all that you'd done, you too Tommy."

The two young men looked at him as Billy spoke up, "That asshole father had never noticed me before, what does he know about forgiveness?"

"He does, Billy. All fathers do." Hotch said as he gritted his teeth.

Billy waved at Hotch in annoyance, "You're just trying to tell me anything, Agent Hotchner. Save it for someone's son. He was never around when I needed him."

Tommy nodded. "That goes for my dad."

Emily was staring at Hotch, "Agent Hotchner is right, Tommy." Emily said. "Your parents loved you very much. Your mom is always talking about you and Billy."

Billy laughed harshly, "That bitch lied to you, Agent Prentiss, she never cared one bit about me; all she cared was her fucking clubs and dad…and her drinking."

Emily frowned as she listened to the pain in his voice. "You know, Tommy, when you were little, your mother did a lot with you; remember she'd take you to Italy and hung with me?" She looked at him.

Tommy slid the mask down and looked at Emily, "I remembered those times," he said quietly. "They were the best of times but that's in the past, I'm not that little kid anymore" He replaced the mask back onto his face and said. "We don't have to worry about that anymore. She's not gonna take those trips ever again." He muttered under his breath.

"Billy," Hotch looked over to him. "You used to hang out at your dad's law firm, do you remember that?"

Billy clenched his fist around the gun. "Shut up, Agent Hotchner."

"I remember when I'm at your dad's office and you'd always have your coloring books. You always wanted to be an artist."

Billy turned to Hotch, "Oh yeah? Well, that's kiddie's stuff. You know what dad said? He told me to stop doodling and be serious with my studies. He took my drawing pads away, that fucking ass hole."

"And he'd regretted it since, Billy. He wanted to make it up to you. He still has that drawing pad. I'd seen it."

"You lie!" Billy yelled. "He threw away my drawing pads!" In anger, he picked up a stack of deposit slips on the counter and threw it across the room; papers began to float all over the place. "I'd hated him since."

Hotch shook his head, "He loves you very much, Billy."

"YOU LIE!" he aimed his gun and fired a shot near Hotch.

The women screamed as Hotch and Emily flinched slightly.

"Billy, remember your mom used to take you to the zoos, you like the carousel rides the most."

Billy turned to her, "Those are kid's stuff, Agent Prentiss. I grew up."

"It doesn't have to be, you can still have them. I still have carousel rides." She turned to look at Hotch, he smiled; she'd take Jack out to the zoo and carousel rides too.

"I don't like them anymore."

"You told me once, you'd never tire of them." Emily said softly to him.

Billy hesitated for a moment before he clenched his fist and shook his head, "Nice try, Agent bitch but it doesn't change anything. Don't worry, mom will not have to worry about us anymore, right Tommy?"

Tommy looked over to his friend and nodded.

Hotch and Emily exchanged worried looks; _what did he mean by that?_

"It's rerouted. And then we can leave." Tommy said.

Hotch looked over to Emily and saw her wound, "Hey, let me check it," He opened her shirt and peered into her wound and frowned.

Emily saw his expression, "Yeah, it's pretty ugly, isn't it?"

He chuckled, "Nah, not as bad as any other ones you'd ever received, we'd get you patched up and you'd be good as new and pretty." He stroked her skin softly, she looked at him and smiled.

She grinned weakly, "Charmer."

"Em, I…"

"How's your leg," She pointed at the wound at the back of his leg.

He shrugged, "It's fine, it's not hurting so bad."

"Okay, it's done." Tommy announced. "Transfer completed. Let's go."

The women began to stir as they sat up straight.

"Let's go, Agent Hotchner, Agent Prentiss." Tommy waved his gun. "Get up."

"She can't get up, Tommy." Hotch said angrily.

"Fine, if she can't get up, we'll just finish her, put her out of her misery." He said.

"You son of a bit…!" Hotch almost rushed to him but Emily held him back.

"No, Hotch." She said. "I can manage…just help me up." She grabbed his arm.

He turned to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder and lifted her up and together, Hotch limped as Emily leaned heavily on him as they began to walk towards the front door but the Billy stopped them.

"No, not this way, we're going by the back door." He motioned at them with the AK-47. The two agents turned and limped slowly to the back.

The four turned to them, "What about us?" Linda asked.

Billy turned to Tommy who nodded.

Billy pointed at the main front door, "Get over there."

"But…I thought?" Linda faltered.

Billy shook his head, "What? You thought we're taking you with us?"

Emily and Hotch turned to listen but Tommy pointed the gun, "Keep walking, you two."

"You promised us!" One of the women cried out as she was ushered to the front of the glass doors.

"No sweet heart, I didn't promise, I said we might take you with us when we get all the money transferred."Billy chuckled.

"The…the…money?" She stuttered.

Billy shook his head, "Oh…no, let's not do that, sweet heart. We'll put your money to good use." He chuckled.

She began to shake her head, "No…no, you sa…said, you're not like ...like them, my grandmother's life savings..." She rushed to him, "I love you!" She grabbed his 9mm and stepped away from him pointing the gun at him, "St...stay…stay…away from me…me!" She screamed at him!

Tommy, Emily, and Hotch heard the commotion and turned back to the lobby. "Get back…"

"Billy!" Tommy called to him. "Billy! What's going on?" He skidded to a stop when he saw her pointing the gun at his friend.

"Sheryl! What're you doing? Put the gun down!"

….

"Chief Strauss," Garcia had came out of the bus to where the BAU team and Strauss were standing, watching the bank, where Hotch had gone in five minutes ago, where they had heard a gunshot fired but since then nothing had happened.

She turned to look at Penelope, "Yes, Garcia?" The other team members also turned to look at her with curiosity.

Garcia began to point at her laptop which was in the bus, "You need to look at this…I mean at the screen…I mean at what I found. The connection, I think we might have something more than just a hostage situation. And it's not just that and that woman that was shot and killed was not as simple as that but to silence her and…"

"Garcia!" Strauss tried to cut her off as Morgan's brows arched high.

"…and the hostages inside are not really hostages but actually accomplices and they know what's going on but not Emily, she's really not involve and she's really shot and…"

"Pen!" Morgan grabbed her shoulder and tugged her hard once. "Stop!"

She stopped talking and looked at him. "I'm stopping."

Strauss looked up at Morgan and nodded, "Thank you." Then she turned to Garcia, "Now, if you could slow down and talk to us at a slower pace, and describe..." She held her hand up. "Human pace, not computer speed, Garcia, please."

Garcia nodded as she swallowed and spoke, this time slowly as she began to explain to them what she found out about the hostages who were not actually hostages but accomplices.

Strauss nodded, "Show me," They stepped back into the bus.

As Garcia sat down in front of the screen, she pointed out the Summers' family assets, as well as the Fronds'. Then she went through the bank manager Wendy Brighthouse's bank account and saw that she had been fraudulently routing customers' accounts into hers and now they were wired into an untraceable foreign account. Garcia also found Linda and Tracy who actually were not bank tellers of this bank but managers of two other branches; they had consolidated all the customers' assets into another account set up by Sheryl and now, they had met earlier and built up the transaction.

"Why the hostage ruse?" Strauss asked.

"Probably to buy some time for them…" Reid began but was interrupted by Garcia.

"Huh, sorry to contradict, young Jedi." She said. "Look at Wendy's appointment book; Emily was due to come in to sign on her house and I bet they saw it and quickly worked on this hostage ruse."

Morgan and Dave nodded.

"Okay, that's four women, Garcia." Strauss pointed. "Where's the fifth one?"

Garcia frowned into her screen, "Oh…" She stared at it. "Yeah…hmmm…yeah…"

"Maybe she's just really a hostage." Reid blurted out.

The team turned to look at him.

"He could be right." Dave said.

"How so?" Strauss looked at him. "Do we know who she is and what her relationship with the two gunmen?"

"No…" She looked up at the screen and bit her bottom lip.

"Keep searching, Garcia." Strauss said. "There's got to be a connection." She glanced to Reid.

Reid blushed as he said, "I still think she is really a hostage."

"So far, no one has reported her missing, Reid." Morgan pointed out.

Just then, there was a knock on the door as JJ opened it and a SWAT personnel and a female civilian came in.

"Er, excuse me, I have a lady here from a hairdresser shop, she is reporting that her manager who makes a daily deposit at the bank has not returned."

Reid turned to look at Strauss before they looked at the young lady.

"Well, it seems like we do have a genuine hostage situation, Erin." Dave nodded at Reid.

Reid was feeling very self conscious as he tried not to look vindicated.

Morgan clapped his hand on Reid's back and grinned slightly. "Reid, why don't you get her name…I mean the manger's name and information." He grinned at him.

Reid frowned at Morgan as he moved to the young pretty girl and led her to a corner. JJ chuckled as she chook her head.

Dave shook his head.

Another hurried knock on the door and it opened, a deputy came in and said in a hurried voice, "We just received a 911 call, a house explosion in Vicksburg," He read out the address. "It belonged to Steve and Gail Summers. Reports came in; one female occupant was reported inside when it exploded." He shook his head.

Another deputy came in, "Make that two house explosions; we just call another call. It's from Fredericksburg, the Fronds house."

"Let me guess, one occupant, a female." Dave said angrily.

The deputy turned to Dave, "Yeah! How did you know?"

Dave shook his head, "Just call it an educated guess." He signed.

…..

"Sheryl," Tommy held his hand up, "Put the gun down, sweetie. Billy was pulling your leg."

"No, he's not!" She was tearing up as she quickly swiped her tears off her eyes, "You two lied to me!" She pointed the gun at the other women. "And you two, they're lying to you!"

"Sheryl," Emily rasped through her pain. "Look at me. Billy and Tommy are taking you with them, right guys?"

Billy nodded, "Oh yeah, Tommy said so." He laughed.

"You're laughing at me!" She cried out.

Billy looked at his friend, "You better get going, I'll clean up here and joined you." He said cryptically.

"What does he mean by it?" Sheryl said.

"Sheryl, will you come over here and join the rest?" Billy waved her over.

She shook her head, "No, you're lying. I don't believe you. You're going to kill us."

Billy shook his head, "No, sweetie. Will you trust me?" He looked over to his friend, " Tommy, you need to get going?"

Tommy nodded, "I'll see you at the rendezvous point."

Billy nodded and saluted to him.

Tommy turned to Hotch and Emily and said, "Let's go" as they walked slowly to the back of the building.

At the back of the bank, Tommy led Hotch who was holding Emily and they began to walk further out.

"Where are we going, Tommy?" Emily asked him, she was clutching tightly to Hotch; her wound felt as if someone was driving a hot iron poker into her shoulder and twisted it constantly, she was trying to control her breathing as she distract herself.

Tommy had Hotch get behind the Driver's seat while he sat in the middle of a bench seat of an old car.

"Drive, Agent Hotchner. No funny tricks or Agent Prentiss suffers." To emphasize, he pressed the barrel of his gun into her wound causing her to cry out in pain.

"Okay, okay! Just stop it, Tommy. Leave her alone!" Hotch turned on the ignition and pulled out of the back lot. "Where are we going?"

"Go to the end of the Potomac river, down by the East Bay Road." Billy directed.

"Hey, tell me, Hotch." She gasped as she ignored Tommy in the middle as his gun dug into her shoulder, "Back to you and I, where are we going with us?"

"Em, this is hardly the time to talk about us." He glanced at Tommy.

"Oh, don't mind me." Tommy had removed his mask and tossed it in the back seat.

"I just needed something to distract me, Hotch. Humor me, will you?" She had her head down as if it was weighing heavily.

"Emily, I have to talk to Beth first and I just found out it's not as simple as it is."

"What do you mean?"

He sighed as he looked ahead of him, "Beth has cancer."

….

End of Chapter 4


	5. Chapter 5

It's Always Been You – Chapter 5

.

JJ and Reid arrived at the Summers' house or what was left of it and saw the firefighters had just ended putting out the flames; they were now going through the rubbles and checking on any lingering embers.

They had also found the badly charred body of Gail Summers; they could only identified her by unburned photos around the house and basing on her approximate height and frame.

Neighbors also confirmed it was her as they knew she was usually home alone around that time.

The FBI agents began to look and walk carefully around them; looking for clues that would help them with their case.

"How do you find anything in this?" JJ frowned as she picked things with her gloves, "Everything is burned beyond readable."

Reid narrowed his gaze, "Tommy Summers is only 17 years old; and his father and Hotch are college friends?"

"What are you trying to get at, Spence?"

He shrugged, "Nothing except that in ten years, this could be Hotch and Jack."

JJ frowned at him, "What? You mean Jack could be a serial killer in ten years?"

Reid whipped his head around to face her, "No! That's not what I mean, JJ! I mean if Hotch were to remain in his law career, he might have become a senator or in politics just like Michael Summers, and Jack would have been in his late teens."

JJ nodded in understanding, "I see, so maybe Jack might have killed someone and blown up Hotch's wife and house while he's overseas under the President of the United States of America."

Reid arched his brows at her reasoning, "I see."

JJ smiled at him, "Let's get back to the present and leave Hotch and his career to his own decision."

He nodded and began to look.

Across county, Dave and Derek were at the Fronds' home and the house was partially burned as well. Betty Fronds' body was also badly burned and was not easily indentified but for a neighbor who had just walked her dog into the house when it exploded.

"Well, the firefighters did find the dog and Mrs. Fronds in what I think is the kitchen here." Dave said as he looked around as he pointed at pieces of china and cracked and dented pots as well as burned wooden dining table and chairs.

"Too bad about the dog, good thing Garcia is not here." Morgan said.

"Yeah, she'd have a few choice words for Billy Fronds." Dave nodded as he pulled out a burned drawer but there was nothing of use. "And they won't be nice ones." Dave said.

"Hey, Rossi, look at this," He lifted a stack of drawing pads and opened them. "These look like children drawings. Whose are these?"

"Looks like Tommy, I guess he'd aspired to be an artist while he was a kid. Pretty good stuff."

"Yeah but Rossi, it looks like he stopped drawing at one point."

Dave nodded, "You think Dad didn't want him to draw? That he wants his son to follow his footsteps."

Derek looked around, "I don't see any drawings on the walls. I think you might have something. So, Tommy wants to be an artist but dad says no and took all his art stuff away, that drew them apart."

"They have never been the same since, father and son." Dave nodded. "A shame."

"I didn't get a chance to do that with my father. He died on the job when I was young but I remembered he used to spend what spare time he had with us when he's not at work. Family was very important to him."

"You missed him." Dave said.

Derek nodded, "Yeah, my sisters and I did." He shook his head, "I've seen enough."

"Yeah, me too." They left the house.

…..

"Tommy," Hotch said when he saw a hospital sign a moment ago. "Agent Prentiss needs medical attention."

"She will when you've delivered us to my destination."

"It might be too late, do you want another…death on your conscience?" Hotch pointed.

Tommy did not reply.

Hotch saw that Emily was near unconscious, he was tempted to divert the vehicle and take her to the hospital and chance Tommy's wrath, anything to save Emily.

"Okay, make a right on the next intersection." Tommy pointed.

Hotch frowned, "But I thought you said to drive…"

"Well, I changed my mind, Agent Hotchner, just do it." He dug the barrel into Emily's shoulder again, Emily began to scream but this time she was growing too weak to do so as she breathed hard.

Then they heard a helicopter buzzing overhead.

Tommy began to laugh, "I guess the gig's up."

"Tommy, what're you talking about?"

The young man leaned down and looked up at the helicopter, "Oh look! It's a news helicopter, we're on the news."

Hotch frowned as he looked over to him and Emily. "Did you call the news unit?"

Tommy chuckled, "Well, I've always wanted to look good and famous."

Hotch shook his head, "Stupid!" he muttered.

"No, Agent Hotchner, not stupid but famous. I'm gonna make you famous, you and Agent Prentiss."

Hotch turned to look at him again before he turned back to the road, "What?"

"Oh!" He pointed at the road block ahead of him, "turn left now!"

Hotch did as he was told and heard Emily grunted in pain as the movement had jarred her wounds.

"Hang in there, Em." Hotch eased the pedal slightly.

"Just keep driving, Agent Hotchner, down that road." Tommy indicated. "Turn to your left and into the parking lot of that building. Next to the blue car."

A few minutes later, Hotch was helping Emily into the building which was emptied.

"Tommy, Emily is not going to make it very soon." He said as he laid her down and unbuttoning his shirt, he began to tear them into strips and field dressed her.

Emily looked up at him and smiled weakly, "I guess I owe you a shirt, Hotch."

He grinned, "You owe me more than a shirt, Em. You better hang in there. You're not permitted to give up so easily and that's an order, Agent Prentiss."

She nodded, "Yes sir, Agent Hotchner."

He shook his head at her sassiness but privately he was worried about her; she was cold to the touch and her complexion was pale.

Hotch looked up over to where Tommy was, "Tommy! Let us go!" There was no answer, Hotch looked around and realized he was not by the window, "Tommy? Tommy!" Hotch ran about the building and saw another door and it was opened and followed it out and heard a car speeding by and turned. He saw a blue sedan rolling away from the building.

He turned back to the building and picked Emily up close to him carefully "Hey, listen, Tommy's gone. We're going to get out of here. Please hang in there babe. I…I…love you, Emily, please stay alive for me, you hear me?" He leaned in and pressed his lips hard against hers before he stood up unsteadily himself and carried her back out to the car, and saw another problem and almost shouted in frustration! Tommy had taken the keys!

"Damn that kid!"

"Hotch…jack it, hotwire it…" Emily said weakly as she sat next to her.

Nodding he began to reach under the console of the steering wheel of the car and soon the engine came on but they were losing precious time.

Speeding along, he drove back the way he came from as he recalled where he saw the hospital sign and began to follow the sign.

Ten minutes later, he pulled up at the emergency parking area and began shouting for help.

"I need medic! I'm a federal agent!" He yelled out as he ran around and carefully carried Emily out close to him as he turned around and saw medical technicians had rolled out a stretcher and Hotch placed her on it.

"She sustained a gunshot wound in her right shoulder, bullet is still lodged inside."

A nurse nodded and held him, "Sir, we have her. Come with me. You need to be seen too. You're bleeding too." She looked at his leg.

"Oh, yeah. I've been shot in the back of my thigh." Hotch nodded.

"You two are the ones in the bank hostage situation?" She asked him.

Hotch nodded. "I'm with the FBI, listen I need a phone, I need to contact my team ASAP."

She nodded and took out her cell, "I don't usually do this but I can make exceptions under the circumstances." She said firmly. "Provided you let us get to your leg wound when you're done. Deal?"

Hotch looked at her and grinned at her matronly demeanor and saw her name tag, "You've got a deal, Head nurse Mason, thanks. By the way, where am I at?"

Nurse Mason rolled her eyes as she told him and indicated for him to get into the wheel chair as she wheeled him towards the front of the X-Ray department.

In the meantime, his first phone call was to Dave Rossi.

…

An hour later, the BAU team arrived at the hospital and was directed to the operating ward where Emily was still being operated on.

Hotch was on crutches as he greeted his team. "Any word on the two?"

Dave shook his head. "Deputies found two cars matching description the Potomac River. Coast Guard is out on the water now. Aaron, they could be anywhere."

Hotch nodded.

"Hotch," Reid was leaning against the opposite wall from him. "Does the Summers or the Fronds have a boat house?"

Hotch shook his head, "I'm not sure, Reid. I have not seen Mike and Steve in a long time. Em…is your best bet." He looked at the operating room.

JJ and Garcia were sitting together holding hands, "This is like a déjà vu moment." Garcia gushed. "You two." She pointed at Hotch and then at JJ, "are not gonna pull another one on us, right?"

Hotch shook his head.

JJ shook her head as well, "Not this time, Pen."

Garcia sighed with relieved, "Good, because I don't think I can take it anymore." Her shoulders sagged. "Besides, I don't think the wall of the Fallen at the Bureau can take another hammering on that spot."

Dave and Derek arched their brows at her dry humor as they shook their heads.

A few minutes later, they heard footsteps and turned as they saw Beth and Jack walking down hallway. Jack, upon seeing Hotch, waved and ran towards his dad.

"Daddy!" he grinned but stopped suddenly as he frowned heavily when he saw the crutches and brace on his leg. "Daddy? Are you okay?"

Hotch held out his hand, "I'm better now that I saw you, buddy! Come here and give me a hug!"

Jack nodded as he walked to him and hugged him carefully but kept his eyes on the brace. "Does you ouchie hurt you?" he glanced up at his father with concern.

Hotch shook his head, "No, buddy, it's fine now. The doctor fixed up."

"Okay, daddy. Did the doctor give you a sucker for being good?"

Hotch broke into a smile, "No Jack but I'll get some for you if you're being good, okay?"

Eyes brightened, Jack nodded enthusiastically, "Can I choose my own flavor? I like the green one."

Hotch arched his brow, "I'm sure we can come up with something.

He nodded happily as he sat down by JJ and Garcia and began to talk to them.

Beth walked up to Hotch and kissed him on his lips as she pulled back and inquired about his leg.

"I'm okay, the doctor patched me and I'm to keep this brace on for a couple of weeks."

"I'm glad you're fine, Aaron. I was so worried for you." She said.

"I'm fine, Beth." He placed his hand on her arm for a brief moment before releasing it and let it hang by his side.

Beth frowned slightly at his odd and cold gesture but shook her head and chalked it up to his ordeal at the bank.

They all looked up when they saw the doctor came out of the door.

"How's Emily?" Hotch inquired as hobbled to the doctor. "Were you successful in getting the bullet out?"

The doctor looked at him and nodded, "And blood transfused; you know she'd lost quite a bit." Hotch nodded. "She's fine and in the recovering unit."

"Can we see her?" Garcia asked anxiously, JJ and Reid nodded.

"I don't see why not?" He shrugged. "I have to warn you though," They all paused to look at him, thinking the worst. "She's giving the nurses a bit of a trouble." He then grinned as he walked back to the ward.

JJ and Garcia began to chuckle, "Why are we not surprise?"

"Let's go before they tossed her out!" Hotch grinned as he hobbled.

"Wait!" Morgan grabbed the crutches and handed them to Hotch as he smiled, "Chicks dig man with crutches."

Hotch glanced over to Beth and shook his head as he took them and put them under his arms.

As they neared the room, they heard some loud noise and suddenly something flew out of the room as they quickly backed away to avoid from being hit.

"No! I'm not going to pee in a friggin' peanut sized pan! I just want to use the bathroom like a person!"

Dave and Derek arched their brows high, "Yep, she' fine as rain all right." Derek was grinning cheerfully, glad to hear she was fine.

"Should Jack and I stay out here?" Beth asked worriedly.

"Miss Prentiss…"

"It's Agent Prentiss! I'm a federal agent with the FBI! Where're my clothes? Look at this? My butt is showing!"

Hotch looked at Jack and Beth, "Maybe he should wait here, do you mind Beth?" His face was heated.

She shook her head.

"Aw Dad! I want to see Miss Emily!"

"Is that Jack?" They heard Emily exclaimed loudly. "Jack! Come on in and save me from the mean ol' nurses!" She began to laugh as Jack ran into the room.

The rest of the team laughed as walked in and saw Emily sitting on the edge of the bed her right arm in a sling as she was hugging Jack on her left shoulder.

"Agent Prentiss, you're supposed to take it easy! You just had a blood transfusion!" A nurse chastised her as she glared around the team.

"I'll be fine, you worry too much, Nurse Nag-a-lot." Emily teased. She shook her head.

"Don't make me come over there with an enema, I still have some power here, FBI agent." She smiled at Emily.

"You're looking at a roomful of FBI agents in here and the future agent too." She pointed at Jack who was now sitting next to her on the bed. "And they're all packing….except for junior here." She challenged good-naturedly.

The nurse turned to look at them and said to her sweetly, "I'm not afraid of any agents here no matter how many you are here, I have other weapons more powerful than that can knock you all till kingdom comes and we'll smother junior with a life time supply of Jell-O and Ice Cream."

Morgan shook his head, "She got you there, Em!"

Emily grinned as she nodded, "She did and I know when I'm being told!"

The nurse nodded proudly as she arched her brows.

They all began to laugh raucously.

…

TV news had been reporting the hostage situation all day about the escape of the two gunmen. The bank and four women became the casualties of them when fifteen after Tommy, Emily, and Hotch left via the back door.

The BAU team found out Billy somehow had slipped out as well right before the bank blew up.

Later, they found both cars near the pier at the Potomac River; they had stolen a boat and the Coast Guard was searching for them on the river.

As soon as the fire was put out at the bank, the BAU team went back to it hoping to find some more clues. Garcia was tasked in looking for the stolen money.

Emily stubbornly discharged herself, much to the displeasure of the doctor, who warned her of aggravating her wound but Emily had informed him that she had hated hospitals and would make everyone's life miserable if she'd spend another night there! The attending nurses had positively agreed with her on that and were glad when she left with Hotch and Dave and a bag of happy drugs should she needed them.

Hotch, in the meantime, had contacted Steve Summers, who was on his way home as well as Mike Fronds, and found out that the Summers and Fronds had a shared summer house in South Carolina.

The BAU team flew down as soon as they could after contacting the South Carolina LEOs to reconnoiter the area as well as evacuate the local residents.

…..

End of Chapter 5


	6. Chapter 6

It's Always Been You – Chapter 6

.

"What happened while you were in the bank, Emily?" Derek wanted to know.

They were enroute to South Carolina.

Emily shook her head, "They did not do much but were mostly on the computer terminal. I managed to ask about the four women, that's about it."

"This is a strange case." Dave said. "Why you, Emily? Why didn't they kill you at all? I mean no offense but you'd been taunting them that whole time, you said but yet they spared you."

"Perhaps they wanted a witness." Reid leaned over from where he was sitting. "They have told Hotch they wanted to be famous by calling the media unit."

Derek nodded, "Yeah, genius has a point there. Two young kids being ignored by their parents all these time, they'd want to be noticed by everyone, so they stole a bunch of money and kidnapped a bunch of people and a federal officer."

"I wish they'd not use me to get notice." Emily frowned at she reached over and scratched her bandages. "There are other ways."

…

Ten minutes later, the jet landed at the local airport.

Two SUV waited to pick them up.

A detective met with them, "Mitch Landers," He greeted them.

The agents introduced themselves to him and he began to update him on the latest, "There's no activity so far, house is dark. Are you sure we have the right house?"

Hotch nodded. "Yes, we do."

When they arrived at the summer house, the sun was setting, they could tell no one was inside the large brick house with a porch all around and from the photos sent to them by Mike Summers, they had a large swimming pool in the fenced-in back yard.

SWAT team was already in place as well as on the roof top across the houses.

The BAU team was also told there were snipers in the back yard.

JJ and Reid were inside with a small group of deputies and SWAT.

Derek, as lead forbade Hotch and Emily to approach the house any further than where they had parked the SUV which was 100ft from the house.

Hotch tried to argue but Derek shook his head, "Look, I could put you two back in the jet." He grinned.

Hotch gave him a wry look, "Morgan, you're lead as a temporary replacement only. Let's not forget it."

"I know, Hotch." He said. "I'm taking advantage of it while I can. So back away you two." He clapped his hand on Hotch's shoulder and stirred him around towards the SUV.

Emily frowned at him as they followed his orders grudgingly.

"You know, we're gonna have to put him back in his place when you get better and when you're back as Unit chief." Emily muttered as she held on to him.

"I know. He's enjoying his temp position too much, way too much." Hotch nodded as he looked back at the dark-skinned agent who was talking to the others.

Hotch's phone rang and it was Steve Summers; he was still enroute and he remembered the two boys had a couple of girlfriends who lived two houses from their summer house.

"Derek!" Hotch called out to the team and quickly informed them of the new development.

The BAU team and the SWAT team then rushed to their house and found two teen girls reading by the pool.

"Dana, Ginnie?" They looked up at Derek and Dave. "We're Agent Dave Rossi and Derek Morgan from the FBI, where's Tommy and Billy? Billy's dad said they're over here."

The two girls shrugged, "Haven't seen them."

Derek and Dave exchanged frustrated looks and Derek turned back to them, "Okay ladies, we know your boyfriends are here. Come on, stand up, you two are coming with us."

They sighed and stood and walked out of the back yard with Dave and Derek.

A female deputy came and escorted them into a patrol car as she stood watch over them.

"So, where are they?" Dave scanned the houses.

Derek shook his head, "We're missing something in this case, Rossi."

The older agent turned to him, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know, call it gut feeling but it's not adding up." He shook his head and took out his cell phone and called Garcia. "Baby girl, tell me you have something on the money trail."

"Derek, I'm working as fast as I can and I have a couple of dragons breathing down my neck every couple of minutes!" She sounded frustrated. "I can't work under these circumstances!"

Derek frowned, "Dragons?"

"Yes! Strauss has been popping in here every ten minutes and her mini-Strauss minions are hovering and breathing down my back!" She blew a few angry breaths. "I can't get anything done. I miss my dungeons and troll babies, Derek!"

"Hey, hey…take a deep breath, Penelope now…" He urged her.

She breathed in and out slowly. "Okay…I'm doing it

"There…feeling serenity now?" Derek asked softly.

"Yeah, for now."

He grinned, "I'll take that. Okay, the money trail; where did it come from?"

"Oh, I haven't the time…I've been tracking the other end, Derek."

"Okay, that's good but it's got to have a beginning, baby girl, right?"

"Uh huh," She nodded. "I see where you're coming from. Okay, I'll start from the beginning. Call you back, my dearest." She said before she ended the call.

Dave looked at him expectantly, "Well?"

Derek shook his head, "Nothing yet."

"Let's get in the house and see what JJ and Reid have so far."

Dave nodded and followed Derek into the Summers/Fronds house.

Back in the SUV, Hotch and Emily were sitting together waiting.

"How much do you know Betty and Gail?" Hotch asked Emily.

Emily frowned, "I…I…haven't talked to either of them for over five years. Not since I came back from Italy."

"Em, something's not right with this."

She turned to look at him, "What do you mean, Hotch?"

"When Steve called, he said Tommy and Billy had been out of control and he found out Gail had been cheating on him, Mike had told him about Betty's infidelities too."

"I'm not seeing the connection, Hotch."

"Don't you see, Em? He's listing all their negatives. He has not mourned Gail's death."

She shook her head slowly, "Maybe it's a delay reaction, a natural shock or grieving process in some people."

"Emily, it's been over six hours since Gail's death." He pointed out. "If I loved my wife," He said slowly as if he was recalling the events of Haley. "I'd remember her. I'd go through the happy times with her."

Emily reached over and placed her hand on top of his, "You're right. He has not mentioned about being sorrowful? Or missing her?"

He turned their joined hands and held her tightly, "No, he sounded defensive."

She nodded, "So, you think Tommy and Billy knew?"

"Yes. And I think Steve is not telling me everything."

"Why blow up their homes?" Emily wondered.

"Are they trying to hide something?"

She nodded, "We need to go back to the house."

"Yes, we do." He turned to look at her and grinned, "You know we work great together, don't we?"

She smiled, "Yeah, partner. But don't let Morgan know about it or he'll get jealous."

He arched his brow, "Em…you and Derek…."

"Are just friends, trust me."

"I trust you." He said softly.

"I like it when you call me babe."

He frowned and narrowed his gaze at her, "Ho…how did you know? You heard me?"

She nodded, her smile widened as she leaned to him and nudged him.

He chuckled, "We must talk when this is over….babe."

She giggled.

…..

Reid and JJ were looking over the house when they were in the bedroom of Mike and Gail Summers.

"Look at all the dresses Mrs. Summers owned." Reid said as he pulled along the closet and looked inwards, "And the shoes too, I don't understand the need of owning so many pair of shoes when you have I pair of legs."

JJ straightened up and turned to him, "Reid, we must have shoes to match our clothes." She was looking at the dresser and vanity and saw a large box of costume jewelry and in a corner was a safe.

"Sneakers, sandals, dress shoes…women shoes…." He shrugged. "There's 36 pair of women shoes. I only owned five pairs." He shook his head.

JJ chuckled, "You should see Emily's shoe collection; it's twice the amount and she's still collecting. She's a monster when there's a shoe sale at the mall!"

Reid arched his brow, "Remind me never to go shopping with her."

"Oh, I will and Penelope and I did once, we were at the store for over three hours, all because she wanted one particular brand and they didn't have her size and…"

"JJ! Wait!"

"What? I was telling you about Em's shoe size and…"

"JJ!" Reid was waving at her to get her attention. "We've got something here…This is not Gail Summers' things!"

JJ frowned at him, "Wha…? What are you talking about, Spence?"

"Gail Summers was only 5' 2" and wears a size 6 shoe. These shoes are size 8 and the dresses sizes are 12s. Gail's petite."

JJ came over to the closet and looked at the items, "Mike Summers is keeping a mistress." She announced.

Reid nodded, "Although we call it infidelity. And polygamous relationship in the State of Utah is not officially sanctioned by the United States. The word mistress is derived from a woman of authority who runs the household, or a nation or country. She is very skilled and has mastered a branch of certain skill to…"

"Spence…" JJ was squeezing the bridge of her nose and her eyes were shut tightly. "I know what it means, I don't need a whole encyclopedic meaning of that particular word. Thank you."

He frowned at her, "Oh…I…didn't….okay." He walked away from her and continued his search elsewhere.

"I've got to talk to Derek about pairing with him! Why me?" JJ spread her arms wide and accidentally hit a picture frame on the wall and knocked it off from its hook.

But it exposed something else that startled her; it was a hole cut into the wall and there were five CDs sitting within.

"Spence…"JJ called to the younger agent. "Er…come and see this.

Reid came over and removed the discs and looked at it and saw that four discs had bank names and the last one labeled Fronds/Summers.

"Spence, this looks important, let's take it out and show it to Derek."

He nodded and they left the house.

Hotch and Emily saw JJ and Reid holding something and showed them to Derek who soon came over to the SUV.

Opening the door, he took the laptop out and turned it on as he looked at Hotch and Emily.

"We think we found the answer."

Hotch and Emily exchanged looks. "Bank fraud?" Hotch guessed.

Derek looked at him, "How did you know?"

"Steve used to represent cases on bank frauds and embezzlements and Mike's his partner. They're serving in South Africa currently and if you've been reading the news, there's been quite a raw diamond robberies." Hotch nodded.

"So, one plus one equals a whole lot of money going on." Rossi concluded. "And I bet none of it is his."

Hotch nodded again. "Or Mike's." He took his cell phone out and called the State Department.

"Where are Billy and Tommy then?" Dave wondered.

"I think I know." Emily said. "Your phone, Hotch."

He handed his cell phone to her.

"Agent Anderson? This is Agent Prentiss…yeah, I'm in South Carolina…but I need you to get a couple of agents and get down to the park by the Hoover building. You'll find Tommy Summers and Billy Fronds at the Museum of Fine Arts near the Smithsonian. Please approach them carefully, and let them know I sent you, thank you."

She then handed the phone back to Hotch and said to them, "I remembered Gail and Betty used to take them there when they were little, it was their favorite summer treats."

"Baby girl," The team was on video conference with Garcia using the laptop he had powered up. "Slayed any dragons yet?" He grinned at her.

She glared back at him with frayed expressions, "Don't you start, pretty." She snarled. "I have been trying to get this electronic trail and it had been leading me to a wild goose chase literally! But!" She held up her forefinger forcefully. "I did and right when I did, some idiot cut my power off!"

The BAU agents flinched as they shook their heads, "God have mercy on his soul." Dave uttered.

"Oh yes, his soul belonged to me now!" Garcia continued.

Rossi arched his brow high. Reid gulped hard as he watched the screen.

"Garcia," Hotch leaned over so that he's in the screen now, "Status?"

"Oh, yeah…I managed to get back in once idiot got my power back online. And it's big…Like the Kahuna of the Kahunas at a surfing contest skimming a 100ft wave…."

"Garcia!" The whole team called to her at the same time.

"Oh!" She jumped slightly out of her seat as she heard them yelling at her. "Yes. The electronic money trail is much larger than we thought. And this is not the works of two amateur teenagers. Young Billy and Tommy are not directly responsible for these. Oh no. Daddy dearests are responsible."

"There are over 250 million dollars traced so far and more if it weren't for our teeny Bobbsey Twins"

"Who?" Reid asked.

Garcia leaned into screen, "You…you never heard of the Bobbsey Twins? They were actually kiddie story of two sets of twins, Nan and Bert and Flossie and Freddie and…"

"Garcia," Hotch shook his head. "Focus please?"

"Oh…yeah...er, where?" She frowned. "Oh! Yes, Billy and Tommy found out what their fathers had done so they tried to go their mothers but they didn't react as they didn't want to lose all the pocket money if hubbies go to jail. So Betty and Gail kept quiet."

"That's all I have so far, El Capitans. Sorry,

Derek held up the discs and asked her about it.

"I don't know…put it in, let's see it." She said.

Derek opened the disc marked Fronds/Summers and placed it in the tray and slid it into the laptop.

A few seconds later, the faces of Billy and Tommy popped up on the screen.

"Hey, what's up?" Tommy greeted. "If you're watching this disc. That means you, feds…that is the FBI, found it. And probably Agent Hotchner and Agent Prentiss will be looking at this."

Hotch and Emily exchanged uncertain looks.

Billy leaned in, "Hey, Agent Prentiss, you remember when my mom would take me Italy to visit you? Yes. They were the happiest times I spend there. But you want to know why we went? So my dad can meet with his girlfriends." He named a name and Emily recognized who it was. "Yeah, I bet you know who I'm talking about, she used to be in your mother's staff and then later, she became my dad's. Pretty convenient for him, huh?"

Billy shook his head. "That's okay, he pulled the wool over mom's head as well until much later. But we found out all those money dad was trying to scam the women he's been screwing with." He laughed cynically. "Oh yeah, I knew about his bitches." He turned around and slapped the palm of Tommy's. "Tommy's dad, Steve's the biggest dog of all. He'd have two women at a time. And they're all rich bitches."

Tommy looked down sadly. "I didn't like I it anymore we tried to talk to mom but she wouldn't listen. She even told us to shut it, saying we didn't know what's good for us, the cars, boats, summer vacations overseas, summer houses. Oh yeah, we have one in Venice Beach in California it's not listed. But it's there. They've not paid taxes in ages, too. They're lawyers so they know how to scam."

Tommy nodded, "But we told them we'd go to you, Agent Prentiss, Agent Hotchner because all through the years when we grow up, you two have always show us about being honest. And remember the last thing you told us before you left for Rome, Agent Prentiss? You said if we ever need anything, if we ever run in trouble, to come to you."

"Yeah, but not to shoot me, you idiots!" Emily muttered angrily.

"We probably done something wrong in the past…well lots of things bad but we accept our punishments. And I think Daddy should too.

"He's the one that told us to get his woman to the bank and get the money together and if we did, the money is ours. All $4 million. We found out about Wendy and that she had been defrauding her bank for the last four years."

The disc then listed all the banks Steve Summers and Mike Fronds had been representing and defrauding. The other discs listed the pass codes and accounts information that the two had been working on for many years.

Derek was rubbing his eyes, "Man, I'd never invest my money into bank again."

"I think I'd better talk to my lawyer and agent." Dave said.

Hotch's phone rang and after a few minutes he ended the call, "Agent Anderson said they have Tommy and Billy in custody, they're turned over to the White Collar Crime Unit for questioning. Their fathers will be too as soon as they arrived in Dulles Airport in a few hours."

Derek nodded as he and Dave left the SUV and spoke to the SWAT team; they no longer needed them anymore.

"I'm ready to go home," JJ stretched her arms. "I promise Henry we're going to the movie and dinner at his favorite, Black Eye Pea's."

Reid, upon hearing movie, perked up. "Oh, what is it?"

JJ looked at him, "Oh, you might not appreciate it, Spence. It's a kiddie show called Epic. It's animation."

"Oh, mind if I tag along?" He begged. "I heard about it!"

JJ looked at him balefully, "Spencer, it's a kiddie movie, for kids."

"I know, I like animation. It never ceases to amaze me how they draw the animation and the computerization…"

JJ rolled her eyes as she walked away from him and climbed into the other SUV."

Reid still talking followed her.

Dave shook his head, "I'm not going with them," he hoped into the passenger side of the SUV where Hotch and Emily were.

Derek watched him as he held onto the passenger's door, "Uh, I was about to get on it, Rossi."

"Oh...oops. You snooze, you lose, I always say." He grinned. "How about closing the door and let's get going. I have a date with a bottle of Gino's Blanc Noir and Razor clams with pancetta and sorprese marinara sauce." He grinned happily.

Hotch and Emily, in the back seat, were laughing at them.

Derek shook his head and closed the door and watched as a LEO drove them to the airport. The other SUV pulled up and Derek hopped into the passenger side and found out Reid was still talking about animation and JJ trying her best to drown him out as she looked out the window as the vehicle drove off to follow behind the other SUV.

…..

End of Chapter 6


	7. Chapter 7

It's Always Been You – Chapter 7

.

Derek Morgan, who was still the BAU interim unit chief, insisted on Hotch and Emily headed directly home when the jet touched down on the run way and began to roll into its hangar.

For emphasis, he drove them to their individual homes, making sure Emily was settled into her apartment before he and Hotch left for his house.

When Hotch came home, he found Beth and Jack were in the house already, dinner was prepared.

After spending some time with Jack until his bedtime, he and Beth sat down and talked. She opened to him about her news about being diagnosed with breast cancer. Hotch was concerned and slightly upset because she had not shared the news as soon as possible with him as they were soon to be a family!

Beth apologized and explained to him that she was still new at this relationship aspect and as well he was up to his eyeballs with work and the hostage situation that afternoon!

So many misunderstandings and miscommunications, they talked long into the night until he began to yawn a few times unintentionally.

Beth stood up, "I'll leave, you had such a long day, Aaron."

Hotch stood up with her and nodded, "I'm sorry Beth. We seem to have such bad timing." He yawned again and apologized.

She shook her head and leaned over to kiss him.

Hotch kiss her back hurriedly as he saw her out the door although guiltily, he saw the disappointed looks in her face.

He knew she had hoped he'd asked her to stay the night but he just couldn't.

He had Emily in his mind all evening.

Picking up his phone, he dialed her number and was worried when it kept ringing.

At the last moment, she picked it up and answered groggily. "Hi…thought you'd forgotten about me…"

Hotch frowned at his cell phone, "Em? Are you okay? You sound funny?"

"Yeeeahh….Hooottchhh." She slurred. "Toookk soooome pa….in...pi….lll…"She giggled. "Goo….od….st…..u…fff….wa…..nnnnaa…soo…mmee..?" Then she began to heave on the phone, "Ooh…gonna be sick…"

"Em! Craps! I'm coming!"

Hotch was instantly awake! He remembered her low tolerance for pain medicine and began grabbing his keys and wallet and rushed to Jack's room.

"Hey, Buddy! Let's go…come on, we're going to Emily's place!

Jack sat up and rubbed his eyes, "Who? Why?" He fell back onto his pillow.

Hotch picked him up and carried him out of the house quickly as he shut the door.

"Is there a fire, Daddy?" Jack mumbled in his father's shirt.

"No son, we're going to Emily's home, she's sick." He said as he placed him in the car and hopped into the driver's seat.

"Miss Emily's sick?" Jack asked sleepily. "Okay, Daddy." He gave a loud yawn and promptly went back into deep sleep.

Hotch was already on the road driving as fast as he possibly could without breaking any traffic violations.

Using the spare key he had for every team members, Hotch let himself in and setting Jack down on the couch and pulled an afghan over him before he looked for her in her bedroom.

"Emily!" Hotch whispered loudly as he opened the doors and was startled momentarily by the black cat. "Sergio?" His heart beat a couple beats rapidly. "Emily…why of all cats you'd have to pick a black one?"

"Meow." Sergio came to rub against his leg as Hotch bent down and pat him.

"Yeah, you're a friendly fella. No wonder she likes you so much…less complicating." He walked over him and continued down the hallways until he heard a loud thump and a groaning sound.

Widening the door that was ajar, he peeked in and saw the top of her head on the other side of the foot of the bed near the bathroom.

He rushed over to her and knelt down and saw she was passed out.

"Emily!" He gingerly flipped her over, mindful of her bandaged shoulder. He picked her up and placed her on her bed. "Em!" He shook her gently.

She mumbled a bit and groaned before she heaved again. Hotch quickly looked around and found a waste basket and grabbing it quickly placed it in front of her just in time for her to toss the contents from her stomach which was not much.

"Oh my god!" She rasped as he found a wash cloth and cleaned her face. "Just let me die!"

He chuckled, "Not a chance, babe. You're with me for the long haul."He stroked her hair gently.

"Wha…What are you doing here, Hotch?" She cracked an eye opened.

He didn't answer her but instead left her and went to the kitchen to make her some hot tea.

He fumbled around the area as he looked for a mug and tea bag,

Five minutes later, a warm mug of tea in hand as he went into her room, Hotch found her asleep.

"Emily, wake up sweetie. You need something in your stomach. Come on…drink this."

She opened her eyes and smiled, "Hey! You're really here, I thought I was dreaming or being delirious…must be the pain pill…or something," she mumbled.

"Em, come on and help me please?"

She nodded as she scooted up and Hotch helped her with the warm tea.

She wrinkled her nose, "Urgh!…I think you'd forgotten the sugar, Hotch."

"No, I didn't, just drink it." He urged her as he held the back of her head.

She did as he held her again.

"Not too much, Em. Don't want you to toss them up again."

She nodded, "Now, will you let me die?"

He laughed, "No! But I'll let you sleep."

She nodded, "Close enough."

He made to leave but she clutched onto his shirt, "Can you…will you…stay?"

"Someone's gotta keep an eye on you, Em." He teased her.

"Thanks, Hotch…."She slumped forward as she laid on his chest.

Hotch held her tightly as he rubbed her back.

"Daddy?"

Hotch turned around and saw his son holding Sergio, "Hey buddy?"

"Is Miss Emily okay? Who is this?"

Emily pulled away from Hotch as she laid down on her pillow.

"This is Sergio, he is my kitty cat." Emily said weakly.

"He's nice, Miss Emily." Jack said as he climbed onto Emily's bed and scooted up to her.

"Er, Jack," Hotch arched his brow. "Emily is sick…"

"I'm fine Hotch." She held out her good hand as Jack came to her and gave her a hug. Sergio took this opportunity to escape from them.

"Aren't you past your bed time, Jack?" Emily kissed the top of his head.

"Daddy said you're sick and we've to take care of you." He looked up at her, "Are you sick, Miss Emily?"

She grinned at him, "I was just now but I'm all better, your daddy has magic powers."

Jack nodded enthusiastically, "Daddy is Super hero!" he crowed.

They laughed at him as she ruffled his hair affectionately.

Hotch privately thought she was perfect for Jack.

"Okay, buddy. You need to get to bed." Hotch stood up as he looked at them.

"Aw!" Jack and Emily said together. "How about you guys spend the night here?"

"Are you sure?" Hotch arched his brow.

"Please, daddy? Can we?" Jack begged as he jumped on her bed.

He looked at her who nodded back to him, "I've a spare room."

He thought for a moment and nodded.

"Yippy!" Jack jumped again on her bed happily.

"Okay, kid, you gotta settle down or I'm gonna make you sleep in Sergio's kitty bed," she teased him as she held on to his pajama bottom before he fell off her high bed.

Hotch shook his head as he sat down on the edge by her and saw her bandaged shoulder and nodded at it, "Does it need to be changed?"

She looked down and nodded, "Yeah, I guess before we hit the sack."

"What's hitting the sack?"

…

The next evening Beth came to see Hotch and she was not in a happy mood; she has found out by chance from Jack that that father and son had spent the night at Emily's despite the fact Aaron had told her he was exhausted.

Beth had previously felt a pinch jealous of Emily when she first met her. She had always felt insecure of Aaron working in an environment with beautiful women.

For a while she was jealous of JJ as well. JJ, as a media liaison had a close relationship with Hotch and Beth had not felt comfortable with their closeness but when JJ became pregnant with Henry, she breathed with a sigh of relieved until Emily came back after the Ian Doyle ordeal.

Oh, she was not happy with how close Aaron became with Emily even though at that time, he had shown no interest in her. Beth was still insecure.

Those times when they were out of town on cases were the worse! Her mind would go into overdrive! So many ugly scenarios were imagined and they all ended with Aaron and Emily in the most compromising positions.

Oh, she had never once shown her insecurities to Aaron; she knew that was one step to lose him for sure! Ha! She was not that dumb! She had read copious articles from magazines on how to keep a long-lasting relationship! And Aaron Hotchner was definitely a long lasting relationship. He and Jack.

Emily Prentiss had become too close to Aaron, despite their working relationship, despite seeing each other at work, they still tended to call each other every evening.

He'd tell her that she was still recovering from her ordeal with Ian Doyle; how long does one take to move on? Beth thought annoyingly.

She knew Aaron had moved on from Haley since she'd met him.

And it was time for Emily Prentiss to move on without Aaron.

And that was how she'd concocted the plan of being diagnosed with breast cancer! And he couldn't back off from their wedding plans now!

…

End of Chapter 7


	8. Chapter 8

It's Always Been You – Chapter 8

.

"Come in Beth." Hotch said as he opened the door.

He studied her expression and thought this was not going to be a good visit; she must have found out he and Jack had spent the night at Emily's. Jack had been over the moon talking about it all of this morning when he took him home and after they had changed, he had dropped him off at Jessica's.

And he was telling her about Sergio who had slept with him the entire night and it had thrilled the youngster.

Jessica gave her ex brother-in-law a confused look; he quickly explained to her all that had happened the day before.

"And Beth is cool with all this?" Jess pointed.

Hotch frowned at her, "What do you mean, Jess?"

"I mean, when she comes over and pick Jack up later, and you know he's going to talk about Emily and last night. What is she going to say about it?"

He thought for a moment and shook his head, "I hope she is okay with it because nothing happened."

"Uh huh," Jess nodded slowly.

"Jess…if you have something to say…?" Hotch leaned against the door frame.

She shrugged, "All I'm saying, Aaron, is if my fiancé spent a night with single woman, a very attractive woman, I might add, I'd be worried." She crossed her arm over her chest and stared at him knowingly.

"You're thinking too much into this, sis."

She grinned, "We'll see who's thinking, brother."

"I'll see you later, Jess." He waved at her and left.

Jessica looked after his retreating back as he headed for his car and muttered, "Oh, I foresee trouble in the near future."

"Come on, Aunt Jess…we're going to be late for school!" Jack and his cousin were standing side by side backpack in their backs as they waited for her.

"Okay, okay…so pushy." Jessica grinned as she grabbed her bag and ushered them out of the house, "Get in the car, you two, and you can tell me all about Emily's kitty."

Jack grinned and began to gush all about Sergio as Jessica took them to their school.

Of course the enthusiasm continued when Beth had dropped by at Jessica's place that afternoon; she had some arts and crafts supplies for the boys to color and use.

"Hey Beth, I patted Miss Emily's kitty cat last night! He's all black and soft and furry!" Jack gushed as soon as he saw her.

Beth frowned at him, "Last night? I thought you were sleeping….?"

Jack shook his head, "I was but Daddy took me to Miss Emily's house 'cause she was sick and we ended up sleeping in there, and her kitty cat slept with me!" He laughed. "I want a kitty cat now, just like Miss Emily's."

Beth and Jessica exchanged looks; Jessica smiled as Beth felt uncertain, "I see, Jack…I bet it was exciting."

"It was fun at Miss Emily's house…she has this big wide and tall bed and she let me jump on it! Until Daddy made me get off 'cause it was making Miss Emily sick and she threw up, it was gross." He wrinkled his nose for emphasis. "And then Daddy had to help Miss Emily clean up in the bathroom and her ouchie."

"Her ouchie?" Jessica asked.

Jack nodded, "Yeah, bad people shot Miss Emily on her shoulder! And she showed me her ouchie and it was gross!" He made another wrinkled face.

"Okay….Jack," Jessica said as she noticed Beth's angry looks. "I think that's enough grossness. Why don't you and Taylor draw about what you two did at school today?" She handed Jack drawing pads and coloring boxes.

"Cool!" Jack nodded and went into the den.

There was an awkward silence as Jessica watched Beth, "Look, I know Aaron," Jessica began. "He's always very caring and concerned for his team."

Beth blinked a few times as she refused to look at her future ex-sister-in-law, "I know he does. But he was so tired he couldn't concentrate on talking to me last night." She said bitterly. "And he went to her place last night."

"Beth," Jessica raised her hand to touch her arm but let it fall when Beth shook her head. "Aaron loves you." Jessica frowned slightly; it didn't sound too convincing.

And Beth had picked up on that. "I have to get back to work."

Jessica nodded, "Thanks for the arts supplies, Beth."

The other woman nodded as she walked quickly away from her house and to her car and soon drove away.

Jessica shook her head, "Oh Aaron, you're in it for a rough ride with this one."

Jessica shrugged as she privately thought her brother-in-law had made a rash choice in his decision of a wife; she had never felt any warmth from her at all, Beth did not seem to warm to her when Aaron had first introduced her to Beth.

Jessica tried to be friends with her but Beth on the other hand was a difficult person to understand and she'd done it for Aaron's benefit.

"Aunt Jess! May we have some juice?" Jack exclaimed from the den.

Jessica smiled, "Yes! You may, Jack!" She shook her head as she walked into her kitchen.

…..

"Where's Jack?" She inquired politely.

"In his room, doing homework." Hotch answered. "Would you like something to drink, Beth?"

She shook her head, "No, thank you."

He waited until she sat down on the couch before he joined her.

"Is everything okay, Beth? Are you feeling all right?" He asked.

She shook her head, "Aaron, I'm going to be upfront with you." He watched her intently sitting by her side. "I'm not comfortable with your relationship with Emily Prentiss." There she'd said it as she let out a pent out breath.

Hotch looked at her for a moment and said, "Beth, Emily and I do not have a relationship, she is my subordinate and colleague whom I value her friendship."

"What about me?" She watched him pleadingly, "I am your fiancée! And I am sick. You're supposed to be supportive of me, Aaron."

He shook his head, "Beth, Emily is recovering from her ordeal with an international killer, she came within inches of death twice." He looked at her firmly. "I was a survivor of such an ordeal and I'm helping her to cope. I'd appreciate if you'd be more understanding of her situation, Beth."

She nodded, "I know and I don't want to sound like a bitch and a whiner but why can't she seek professional help? Like…like a psychologist or something? I'm sure there's someone out there?"

He shook his head, "No, Beth, you don't understand, what she and I went through are unique but believe me, we are just friends. That's all."

"I understand, Aaron."She sighed heavily and laughed shakily as she glanced at him, "I'm sorry."

He shook his head, "There's nothing to apologize, Beth. You didn't do anything wrong. In fact, it's quite understandable."

She nodded as reached over and placed her head on his chest, "I'm being paranoid, I know but you're a catch you know." She teased him.

He smiled as he held her, "I'm a catch? According to whom? All those ridiculous magazines you subscribed to?"

She straightened up and look at him, "They are not ridiculous, Aaron!" She smiled. "Some of them really have very useful tips!"

He lifted a brow at her, "Like the one that told you to be the one to kiss me first?"

Beth blushed, "I… well…yeah…but…"

He smiled, "Relax, Clemmons. It worked. It got my attention."

She beamed widely, "See! They work!" She hit his chest playfully.

"Daddy! I'm done with my homework, can I play watch cartoons?" Jack came over to sit by Hotch.

Beth leaned over, "Hey Jack."

Jack nodded at her, "Oh hi Beth!"

"Did you and Taylor have fun with the arts and crafts supplies?" She smiled

Jack nodded, "Yes, we did. I draw a picture."

"Oh? May I see it?" She asked him.

Jack nodded and ran off to his room.

She smiled happily at Hotch, glad that everything was fine with him as she held onto his hand tightly; her engagement ring a firm reminder of whom he belonged to…her. She smiled smugly.

Jack came back holding a large piece of paper and turning it around he handed it to Beth and sat on the side of Hotch as he leaned against his shoulder smiling happily.

But the adults were not smiling as they looked at his drawing.

Beth, when she saw the entire picture, stood up, grabbed her purse and walked out of the door.

Jack looked at the door, "Where is Beth going, Daddy?"

Hotch wanted to laugh but he held his expression, "I guess she thought your drawing was too much." He patted his son's back affectionately. "I like it, buddy."

Jack nodded, "Thank you Daddy! I can't wait to show it to Miss Emily!"

Hotch grinned again. "Yeah, me too."

…

End of Chapter 8


	9. Chapter 9

It's Always Been You – Chapter 9

.

Hotch was driving to work after he'd dropped Jack off at Jessica's the next day when he'd received a call from Beth's sister, Angela who was 17 years old.

He frowned; she had never quite warmed to him. He'd chalked it up to her being a teenager and him being much older, although she had gotten along well with Jack so he found it odd she was calling him. His first thought was Beth's sickness.

"Hotchner."

"Hello? Er…is… is this Aaron Hotchner? I'm Beth's sister." She asked uncertainly.

"Yes, Angela? Is something wrong? Is Beth okay?" His heart lurched; he thought something must have happened to Beth. All at once he felt bad for being mean and awful to her last evening.

"Er…yeah, look like, I don't know how to like, tell you and I know, like we've not been like, the best of friends the way Beth wants us to be."

Hotch pulled over to the curb and parked the car into the nearest parking lot; he was having a hard time trying to understand the teenager's lingo and he wanted to give her her full attention.

"Hello?" She was whispering on the phone. "Hello? Are you still there?"

"Yes Angela. I'm still here. Why are you whispering?"

"Oh my god! Hello! Aaron! I shouldn't be calling you about this. If Mom finds out, I'm so grounded until fairies turn into trolls, like seriously?"

Hotch frowned; do they? "Okay…go on. I'm listening."

"Er…yeah like, this is the deal, sis is lying to you."

"Lying? What do you mean?"

"Oh my god! Hello haven't you been listening? Sis, does not have cancer! She's lying, telling you, like a load of hogwash to you. She's healthy as a bullfrog on a log on a midsummer's eve! Hello!"

Hotch felt as if someone had hit him in his guts. "Are you sure?"

"Oh yeah, like, of course, I'm sure. Mom's in on it too. They were talking about your financial worth and blah, blah, blah, boring stuff and all! Oh, …and then they were, like talking about your life insurance and, like how much it's worth, too."

Hotch swallowed hard to keep from throwing up his breakfast.

"Er…Aaron? You still there?"

"Yeah Angela, I'm here. I'm…I really don't know what to say."

"Nothing, like you didn't hear it from, like me, okay?

"Angela, not that I don't appreciate you telling me about this but why?" Hotch was feeling incensed.

"Er..hello, Aaron! Come on. It's not that I don't like you and all but you're cool. I mean of all the guys Beth dated, you're the coolest and I really like Jack, yeah, like you have a really cool kid. I didn't think, like you should get taken advantage of. Aaron, you're not the first one Beth has targeted. She saw you on TV and started looking you up on the web and all. I'm sorry and ashamed to be with them, that's all."

"Thanks for telling me, Angela."

She laughed, "No prob, I'm gonna miss you Aaron."

He chuckled, "Yeah, me too. Take care, kid."

"Later." She ended the call.

Hotch looked at his cell phone and began making a few phone calls.

As a consequence, he was half an hour late for work, and he was in a foul mood for the rest the day.

...

"What's up with Hotch?" Derek sat down looking darkly up at his office.

"I don't know, he came in late this morning and he's been in that mood since, why?" Reid offered.

"Well, I've been in training all day and I'd just come back and got my head bitten by him and my ass chewed; he'd forgotten I had class today and griped that I should have written a reminder on his calendar. It's not my fault he'd forgotten and he usually remembers such things." Derek shook his head angrily.

"Sorry, we'd warn you but we went to lunch and been avoiding him."

"We?"

Reid nodded, "JJ, Garcia and Rossi."

Derek arched his brow, "Even Rossi?"

Reid nodded again, "It surprise us too, Hotch had been on the phone most of the morning and early afternoon."

"What about?"

Reid shrugged, "Not sure. The door has been closed mostly."

Derek shook his head, "I hope it not about us or something we'd done."

Reid frowned as he thought it over, "I can't think of anything we have done."

JJ came out of her office looking timid. "Is it safe to come out?" She looked up to Hotch's office. "Is he still on the warpath?"

"More like a tornado that that stepped on a mine field. Wow, he's really got a thorn up his…"

"Hey! It's official," Garcia came out of her lair. She looked up at Hotch's office as well. "I guess the wedding is still a go." She looked glumly as she took a seat by Derek. "I'm so beat and confuse."

"What about, Penelope?" Derek was still annoyed at their supervisor.

"Hotch…he had me looking at information on oncologists, health benefits, insurance and all his personal stuff." She waved her hand.

JJ, Reid, and Derek exchanged intrigued looks, "Oncologists? What about them?" JJ prodded.

"Who's diagnosed with cancer, Garcia?" Reid joined in.

Alert, she straightened and looked at them, "Oh, I'm not supposed to tell you guys. I made a promise to Hotch." She stepped away from the chair.

"Wait!" Derek stopped her. "Turn around, missy," she did as he asked. "Spill…now!"

She looked defeated, "Look, I'm not supposed to say anything, Strauss and I made a promise to Hotch. It is a very sensitive situation so please don't make me tell you." She quickly dashed away from them before they ambushed her further.

"Okay, your BFF just gave you a few loaded clues," Derek glared at JJ. "What do you make of it?"

JJ reared back, "Me?" He nodded. "I…I…well, she mentioned oncologists, and Hotch and sensitive situation…if I were to make a hazardous guess, and it's just a hypothetical guess, I would say Hotch has cancer."

Reid and Derek nodded together, "Yeah, that's what I gathered from cryptic Queen." Derek muttered. "And she added lawyer too. You don't think he's drawing up a new will to include Beth Clemmons?"

She shrugged, "And adding her in his health benefits…"

"And insurance, don't forget Garcia mentioned insurance, that's important too." Reid said.

They nodded.

"Although," Reid began. "Garcia had not come out and say Hotch really have cancer and it could be someone else…"

Derek held his hand to interrupt the young agent, "But Pen came out to tell us in person, genius. Think what you want, personally I'm with JJ." He nodded to her. "He's been holed up in his office all afternoon, he'd been in contact with a lawyer to gather all his affairs to make sure Jack is squared, his health and other insurances are up to date to include Beth, that way when they tie the knot next month, it'd be all in order. Maybe he doesn't have much time." He looked up at JJ frowning.

"Yeah, should we be even more concern?"

"Well, I would be," Reid chimed in. "It would impair my work and I'd be taking time off work to have treatments and hospital stays and recuperations…"

"Who's recuperating?" They turned around and saw Dave Rossi standing behind them, hands on his hips. "What the heck are you guys talking about?"

They told him about Hotch and his health diagnosis.

Dave's eyebrows shot up instantly,

He looked at the team and nodded, "And so from these few facts, you came to the conclusion that Hotch is possibly dying from an inoperable cancer and he's leaving Jack to the care of Beth." They nodded. "Sounds pretty good except for one thing."

"What's that?" JJ asked.

"Aaron himself; did he tell you?"

They shook their heads.

"So, you three jumped to the conclusion of his health and death just like that?"

They looked slightly ashamed.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. I think you three had better get back to what you're best at, your job and leave Aaron's life alone." Rossi turned away and walked back up to his office, shaking his head.

"Now, what is wrong with him?" JJ frowned as they watched the Italian agent return to his office and shut the door firmly. "Is there something in the air?" Reid shook his head. "Then what is going on with them?"

"I don't know." Reid turned back to his desk. "I'm taking his advice and get back on my files" He frowned. "They seemed to grow larger suddenly and Emily's not even here."

"Speaking of Emily, I wonder when she's due back?" Derek looked up at JJ expectantly.

She grinned and said, "Emily had wanted to come in today but she's not permitted to show her face for another two more days and then it's desk duty for two weeks."

Derek chuckled, "Oh, that's gonna kill Princess; two weeks' desk duty? We'll see how long that's gonna last." He shook his head as he returned to his work.

JJ shook her head, "I talked to her this morning, she sounded cheery…must be the happy drugs they gave her."

Derek looked up at her, "You know she doesn't take that stuff, it makes her sick."

Reid began talking about drugs and tolerant and the pros and cons, as well as the side effects and its consequential dependency.

After five minutes of facts, Reid found that he was talking to himself again when he saw JJ was no longer standing there and Derek had put on his headset and was listening to his music while working on his pile of reports.

Reid pursed his lips in embarrassment and reddening slightly, returned to his reports shaking his head, "…they were listening…" he muttered under his breath.

….

Hotch was fuming in his office; he could not believe he was made a fool!

Beth Clemmons had utterly carved a part of his heart out and stomped on it with delight; her and her mother!

Sitting in front of him was information on Beth Clemmons that he wished he had found out about her six months ago!

She had scammed a total of five men in the past four years! He would have made the merry half dozen were it not for her sister!

He'd have to remember to send Angela Greeley a nice present. He'd also found out Beth was previously married twice; something she had omitted during their courtship. Courtship! He sneered. That term was medieval yet apt. She played him all right by going slow with him and he had thought it was such a sweet and old fashioned thing.

And he had also thought she was a wonderful person, a down-home girl-next-door he had fallen in love with!

Well, falling in love with was such a strong expression to use. He knew he was not in love with Beth as soon as he found out about his true feelings for Emily a few days ago; no, in truth he was never in love with Beth at all. He'd thought he was.

The bank incident had triggered an awakening emotion in him and it shook him at that time. He remembered that moment when he watched Emily being shot, and that at that instant he thought he was about to lose his best friend forever and he couldn't handle it. He had remembered all those times she'd teased him during their sessions, how they had talked about their ordeal and she called him her BFF. Hotch, being a man had refused to acknowledge that feminine fact, had ignored her calls when she called him BFF, not until she had relented and called him Hotch would he talked to her again.

He had to her they were childish talks, not to mention girlish stuff and they were mature adults.

Emily had scoffed his reasoning but she had stopped teasing him thereafter and even bought him a large cup of coffee as a peace offering; of course Hotch had accepted the coffee! Who wouldn't? Free large cup of joe from Starbucks, of course that was before the salt trick.

Hotch shook his head as he returned his thoughts back to Beth and on how to deal with her; he had been so easily distracted by thoughts of Emily lately!

She was been on his mind constantly; everything always led to her.

He heard a soft beep and saw the he'd received a text message from her and grinned as he pulled up the text;

_Hey._

That was all and it made his heart jumped.

Just one simple word and it's not even a word of endearment and it has affected him deeply.

_Oh yes, Aaron Hotchner, you've got it bad!_

He'd text back to her,

_You're to rest_.

She text again,

_Going bonkers! Are you and Jack coming over? Please?_

_Pizza?_

He grinned; how could he refuse her?

He replied, _my treat._

She ended the text with a happy smiley emoticon face.

A knock on the door interrupted his moment with Emily and he put his phone away, "Come in."

It was Dave.

He came in and sat down on one of the chairs and began to assess him.

Hotch return his gaze with curiosity, "Problem?"

"You tell me, mon Capitan." Dave said. "But first, answer me this, are you feeling fine?"

Finding the question quite odd and unusual, Hotch quirked his brow high up on his forehead, "I am, Dave, feeling very well, why?"

"It seems your team members are very concern with your health."

"My health?" Hotch stood up and walked around his desk and stood in front of Dave. "What is this about, Dave?" He turned to his left and looked down to the bull pen through the window and saw his team members working diligently on their reports.

Dave proceeded to tell him about his impending health crisis.

Hotch began to laugh, really laugh as he held onto the back of the chair next to Dave.

"I take it there isn't a health scare."

Hotch shook his as he caught his breath back. "No, Dave, I don't have an inoperable cancer nor am I dying. I'm perfectly healthy according to my last physical three months ago."

"Then what…?" Dave looked at him quizzically.

Hotch sat next to him on the chair and frowned, "Keep this to yourself for the moment until…well, until I figure what to do."

Dave nodded, "You got it."

"It's about Beth. She told me she had breast cancer."

Dave sat up and felt compassionate for Hotch and Beth at once, "Aaron, I'm so sorry…"

Hotch shook his head as he held his hand up, "Hold it, Dave. It's not what you think."

Getting even more confused, Dave stared at his friend, "Maybe you should dial back and start from the beginning, Aaron."

Hotch nodded, "It started with the bank hostage situation…" he went on to tell him about the phone numbers from oncologists and Beth telling him about her cancer diagnosis, and this morning, his phone conversation with his sister.

"You mean she lied to you? But why, Aaron?"

"According to Angela, it's about the money. I just found out about Beth's dead husbands and I had called detectives from Massachusetts and North Dakota to exhume those bodies for autopsies. Thank goodness she didn't cremate them or we'd not have any concrete evidence of arsenic."

"Arsenic! What about you, Aaron?" Dave exclaimed.

He nodded, "I'm headed to the hospital with Jack later, we getting tested."

Dave shook his head, "I cannot believe she'd stoop that low to poison Jack, too."

"If it weren't for Angela…" Hotch said.

"Tell me about it," Dave shook his head again. "I guess she picked the wrong future husband to mess with."

Hotch nodded, "Oh yeah. I'm gonna make sure no one will be victimized by her again." He clenched his fist tightly as he looked determinedly.

"Hey, why don't you head out to the hospital, I'll handle the three stooges out there…make it four." He pointed at the bull pen.

Hotch nodded as he picked up his jacket, "Remember, not a word to anyone."

Dave nodded, "This is your party, pal." He said. "Good luck."

Hotch nodded as he picked up his brief case and turning back to Dave he grinned, "I'll see you tomorrow, Dave."

"Wait a minute, Aaron!" Dave held his hand up to stop him as he frowned. "For someone who's just handed a jilted card in women, you seem to be happy…what gives?" he watched his friend suspiciously.

Hotch shook his head, "Nothing gets by you, Dave."

Rossi shook his head proudly, "Been in this field over 20 years, you learn quite a few tricks so come on."

Hotch continued to smile, "It's Emily…"

Dave arched his brow, "Prentiss?"

Hotch nodded.

"Emily Prentiss? Our Emily?" He stared at him in stunned disbelief. "Since when? I thought it's Beth….?"

"No, it's always been Emily, I guess." Hotch revealed. "She's been right in front of me this whole time and I didn't realize it until the she was shot and I thought I was going to lose her." He stopped smiling. "It was then I realized it's her, I loved her and I've always loved her all along."

"Does she know?" Dave began to grin.

Hotch nodded, "Yeah, and the feelings are mutual."

Dave clapped his hand on Hotch's back as he grinned heartily, "I'm glad for you, pal. At least we all know Emily."

Hotch chuckled, "Yeah Dave."

"Aaron, you're …what am I going to tell them?" Dave was still smiling.

"Nothing yet, Dave." Hotch arched his brow. "I have to talk to Em, first."

Dave nodded, "Okay, I'll see you tomorrow then…and congratulations, again."

Hotch grinned as he opened the door and schooled his features before he left.

As he walked down and out of the bull pen, Morgan and Reid looked up and saw Hotch's solemn expression and neither man said a word as they watched their leader left.

Dave walked back to his office and closed the door.

…..

End of Chapter 9


	10. Chapter 10

It's Always Been You – Chapter 10

.

Lead poisoning.

Hotch and Jack were exposed to it, as well as Jessica, her husband, and her son, Taylor.

They had been exposed to extreme doses of lead for the past few months through the craft supplies Beth had brought to them.

To say Hotch was inflamed was an understatement; he was incensed! How could she done this to his son Jack? And his nephew?

If she were to harm him alone, it was one thing but to come after his family? Oh no, you don't, bitch!

She was about to wish she'd never met him or mess with him!

"Beth," He had called her.

"Hello, Aaron." She answered his phone call. "What do you want?"She was still hurt about the picture Jack had drawn.

"Beth, the picture was a child's point of view, please don't read too much into it." He tried to sound upset."

"You told me there was nothing going on between you and her." She said.

"There wasn't, Beth."

"But the picture!"

"Beth, I was sitting on the edge of her bed, if you looked at the picture again, you'd see he drew me nearer to the edge, not lying next to Emily on the bed with her."

"Oh my god, Aaron, I know what I saw and you were lying beside her!" she cried. Hotch thought she sounded quite annoying; since when had it sounded so?

"Beth, they were stick figures," he forced a laughter. "You're reading too much into a kid's drawing. I mean, you've seen Jack's drawings, they're not really the best overall." _Forgive me, buddy, I had to lie about you._

She was silent for a while; Hotch figured he'd made a point with her.

"I'm sorry, Aaron." She said softly and tearfully. "Will you forgive me for being so jealous?"

"Oh yes, Beth. And to make you feel better, I have done something for you, I've made an appointment with one of the best oncologist here, it's hard to get in to see her but I managed to pull some strings and got it just for you."

"Oh…you did?" She hesitated, "Er, this is really … a surprise and Aaron, not that I'm not ungrateful but I'm quite busy at the museum and we've got several new exhibits coming in…I'm not going to have the time."

"But Beth, your health is first, I mean breast cancer is not to be taken lightly. We must nip it in the bud." He said firmly. "And I've talked to your director, he said it's not a problem for you to take time off, in fact he was quite surprise to hear you have cancer. I thought you'd told your boss. This is such big news."

"I…I…I know and right now I'm feeling fine, Aaron, that's why I didn't want to make such a big deal."

"Beth! Cancer is a big deal, in fact, I'm thinking of making a pitch to my Section Chief Erin Strauss and do a fundraiser for you, my dear."

"Oh my…Aaron! There…There's no need!" He could hear the panic tone in her voice. "I mean…I've just told you I'm only in the first stage of this cancer."

"Exactly, sweetheart, the oncologist had advised that we should come in as soon as possible and get you seen, the earlier we beat this the better." He said. "Beth, don't you want to get better now? I want our wedding to be perfect."

"Oh, Aaron!" She gushed. "I…You're such… so sweet to me! I don't deserve you!" She flubbed and faltered.

_No, you don't, Hotch wanted to shout at her._

"I want to give you the best, Beth."

"Aaron! I don't know what to say…"

"Say, you'll go with me on to this specialist meeting." He said.

"I…I…Aaron, I...okay." She relented hesitantly.

"Great!" he sounded happy for her. "I'll tell her to expect us tomorrow at 9 in the morning. I'll see you tomorrow, Beth. I love you."

"Oh…I…wait!"

But he had ended the call.

Hotch sat back on the porch outside of Jessica's house; he had not expected her to go through with the appointment. He knew she would call with some excuse.

He had been helping Jessica rid of all the art supplies Beth had brought over and driven to the health department to have the items tested.

Later at home, he would go through Jack's bedroom and cleaned out all the art drawings Jack had made with Beth's art supplies she'd brought over.

The doctor had sent a health technician and had both Jessica's and his house tested for lead poisoning, they wouldn't learn the result of the toxicity levels for another 24 hours.

In the meantime, Jessica and her family had gone to spend the night at her mother's while Hotch was hoping Emily would have them as bunk mates as he was bringing pizza and dessert.

Not taking any chances, he and Jack went to the mall and bought new clothes to last a few days and necessities as well. He realized he was being paranoid but he was absolutely justifiable as far as Jack was concerned; his son's health was his priority.

Years ago, when Jack was about one year old, they found out he was diagnosed with a low immune disorder; so anything he came across, they had to be careful.

To be tested positive with lead poisoning was not something every parent wanted to hear! As the cure or prevention, they would have to get rid of all possible items that might contain high lead toxicity and as for Jack, the doctor had prescribed iron pills for him as a starter until the results came in.

It would be a very highly anticipated 24 hours.

As he carried the large box of pizza and a bag containing 2 cartons of ice cream; rocky road for Emily and him, cookie and cream for Jack, father and son was standing in front of Emily's apartment door.

Jack knocked on the door excitedly as he looked up at his father, his tummy growling.

"My tummy is hungry, Daddy." He giggled.

"Yeah, I'm hungry, too. I wish Emily would hurry with the door."

The door opened and a smiling Emily greeted them as she let the two Hotchners in.

Dinner was a riotous affair in Emily's living room as they settled down to eat at the coffee table. Emily even had a small dish of pizza for Sergio as it had anchovies.

Jack wrinkled his nose when he smelled the cat's food. "Stinky." He declared.

Emily grinned, "But Sergio loves it very much, it's his favorite pizza food."

While Jack watched TV as he ate, Hotch and Emily were in her kitchen where he related to her all that had happened that day.

"Hotch, I can't believe she's capable of such duplicity!" Emily stare at him in stunned surprise.

"I was just as shocked as you were when Angela told me this morning." He was chewing on his pizza.

"So, you really did make this appointment with the specialist?" Emily asked him.

He nodded, "And the detectives are on their way down to make an arrest."

"I'm sorry, Hotch." Emily reached out and placed her hand on top of his.

He looked down as her hand and turning his hand over, captured hers and brought it up to his lips and softly kissed her hand.

She giggled and blushed.

"Daddy? Miss Emily? What are you doing?" Jack was standing next to her with an empty plate.

"I'm having an adult moment with Emily, buddy." He smiled at his son.

Jack frowned, "Yucky, can I have ice cream now?"

Retracting her hand, she laughed, "So you think it's yucky your Daddy's kissing my hand?" Jack nodded. "What if I kiss him on his lips?"

Jack shrugged, "I don't care, Daddy kisses Beth all the time."

"Well, I'm kissing Emily from now on." Hotch said.

"What about Beth?" Jack asked.

"We'll talk about that later, Jack."

"You're not seeing her anymore?" Jack asked.

"You don't mind, buddy?"

He shook his head, "No, if Daddy is happy."

Hotch and Emily exchanged surprise looks. "Well, this is a surprise." Hotch marveled.

"Can I have ice cream now?"

"You know what, buddy? Normally I'd hold off for a bit but why not?" He got off his chair and went to the freezer and began scooping a healthy scoop of cookie and cream into a bowl and handed it to his son.

"Thank you Daddy!" Jack grinned widely as he stared at his bowl of big scoop of dessert and went back to the living room and enjoyed his treat.

"You know you have a great kid," Emily was watching Jack eat happily as he tried to keep Sergio from sniffing his bowl.

"And he loves you too, Em." Hotch was watching her.

Emily turned to him and saw his intense stare and found it mesmerizing.

"Hotch…"

"Aaron…" he said.

"Huh?"

"My name…say it, Emily."

"Aaron…"She said softly.

Hotch smiled as he leaned forward and planted a light kiss on her lips.

She smiled and responded to his kiss as he deepened them and soon he gathered her into his arms and continued kissing her.

It wasn't long before her phone rang, interrupting them.

Reluctantly, she pulled away from her and looked at her phone's caller ID and was surprised to see that is was Beth Clemmons!

Emily tilted the phone towards Hotch to show him.

"Don't answer, Em." He shook his head.

Emily arched her brow at him and nodded, letting it go to her voice mail.

After a moment, she checked her voice mail and saw that she wanted to meet with her.

"I'm not going to do that, Hotch." She shook her head.

"Maybe I should." He said softly as he frowned, "I should really end this once and for all."

"Hotch…you will, when those detectives come down for her. Just let them handle it, you've done all you can." Emily said.

He nodded, "You're right, Emily. Besides, I'll see her tomorrow morning…maybe."

"Just act cool." She reached up and softly stoked his jaw, feeling his stubbles.

"Oh…no again…!" Jack was shaking his head as he held his empty bowl.

The adults laughed at him as Emily took the bowl and took it the kitchen.

After Jack's bath and he'd settled down in the guest room with Sergio, Emily and Hotch sat in the living room couch and talked through the night, of course, it was just all talk…

…..

Just as he'd predicted, Beth had called him an hour before the appointed time and made an excuse about being sick.

Hotch was disappointed with her but not surprised at all; he had anticipated her excuse.

Emily rode with Hotch as they dropped Jack off to school and they headed off to work. Although she was not due yet, Hotch let her returned to work, if only for desk duty only.

Everyone was glad to see her and they were surprise to see Hotch was in a better mood than the day before.

"I'm feeling much better, everybody."She smiled at them. "And ready to come back here."

"We are too, Emily. Hotch had been a bear and have you heard the latest?" Derek said

She shook her head.

He said in a low voice, "Hotch has inoperable cancer."

Emily stared at him and then at JJ who nodded solemnly and then at Reid who mimicked her movement.

Trying not to burst out laughing, Emily turned red-faced as she tried to contain herself.

"I mean, seriously. Hotch might not last long, Em." JJ said worriedly. "Maybe we should do something, like a fund-raising thing."

Emily's brow raised high above her forehead.

Reid nodded, "I'm sure our Bureau has policies in regards to fund-raisers for employees. Maybe we should contact Human resource for information." He began to reach out for the phone when Emily held out her hand.

"Wait, Reid." She bit her inner cheek. "I'd wait for Hotch to tell us about it first. You know he's a pretty private person and wouldn't want everyone in the Bureau to know about his …illness."

They all nodded, "Yeah, yeah, you're right, Emily." Derek said. "I'm glad you're here. Reid would have gotten in trouble with Hotch more if he'd went ahead and done this fund-raiser behind his back."

Reid shook his head, "No, I wouldn't have, Derek. And it'll be your fault too because you're in on it as much as JJ is too."

"Hey!" JJ protested. "I'm not, all I did was talked about it, I didn't mention anything about a fundraiser."

"Who's doing a fundraiser?" Garcia asked suddenly as she stood next to them.

"Where did you come from?" Reid was startled by her voice unexpectedly.

She frowned, "Er…my office..? Where else would I come from? Genie in the bottle poof and I appear from thin air?" She rolled her eyes at him. "Anyways," Ignoring him. "I think there's some kind of trouble in paradise."

"What paradise?" Derek asked her.

"Hello? Derek, where have YOU been?" She snapped at him.

He held his hands back, "Hey, I just asked a question, baby girl, please don't snap my head?"

Feeling contrite immediately, she said, "I'm sorry, my dearest love. But I'm referring to…"

"Garcia, a moment?" Hotch was leaning over the balcony in front of his office.

She looked up at him and nodded as she looked at the team before she walked to his office and shut the door.

The others, seeing his dark looks, scattered quickly and went back to their work.

"I wonder what is wrong now?" Derek muttered.

Before Emily could answer, her cell phone rang; it was Beth and it was a text message,

_I have Jack and I know about you and Aaron._

_We will talk. And not a word to anyone or Aaron will not see Jack ever again._

_Meet me by your car in the parking garage now._

She had attached a picture of Jack sitting in the back seat of a car.

Emily's heart dropped as she stood up and ran out of the bull pen and towards the elevator.

…

End of Chapter 10


	11. Chapter 11

It's Always Been You – Chapter 11

.

'_When you love someone, _

_You'll sacrifice,_

_You'll give everything you've got,_

_And you don't think twice._

_You'd risk it all,_

_No matter what may come,_

_When you love someone._

_You'll shoot the moon,_

_Put out the sun,_

_When you love someone.'_

_. Bryan Adams._

When you love someone, you'll go to great length to save them.

And Emily loved Jack, this she knew and she had not hesitated to save him.

When she saw the picture on her cell phone, she knew she had to do whatever means necessary to save him, even if it would cost her life.

She knew Hotch would be pissed with her if he found out she was gone but he would understand when he realized why.

_Hang in there, Jack!_

_Damn it, Beth! How could you? He's just a boy! An innocent child!_

She swiped angry, pissed off tears off her eyes while she was in the elevator; if anything were to happen to him…she swallowed hard. Beth would not realize what pain and anger really meant.

As she stepped off the elevator and walked towards her car and waited.

Soon she heard another car drove up before her as Beth stepped out of the driver's side, holding a gun.

"Beth, where did you get that gun?" Emil's expression was stunned; gone was the congenial woman she had known, Hotch had loved and was about to marry. Instead this Beth Clemmons had looked hard and bitter and determined as she pointed a small caliber gun at her.

"I bought it, I had asked Aaron for one but he said I didn't need one," She shook her head as she sneered. "He actually laughed at me."

Emily frowned at her, "I don't believe that, Beth. Hotch would never laugh at anyone who wanted to carry a weapon for protection; he'd educate you and…"

"Oh, just stop!" Beth waved the gun at Emily impatiently. "You're right! He didn't, in fact he took me to the firing range and showed me how." She tilted her head slightly and studied Emily, "You do know Aaron very well, don't you? How cozy and nice." She looked around and pointed at a random car and said, "Unlock it… now."

Emily shook her head, "No, Beth."

Beth fired a shot near Emily causing her to flinch slightly. "Unlock the goddamn car, Emily!" She pointed the gun at her head.

"Beth…what are you doing?" Emily saw Jack peeking timidly from the back seat of Beth's car. "You said you'll take me to see Daddy. Why do you have a gun, Beth?" He was looking scared. "Miss Emily, I'm scared."

"Sit back, Jack." Emily said assuringly.

"Do it, now." Beth said again.

Emily jiggled the handle and found it was unlocked and opened it and glanced over to Beth.

"Unlock all the doors." Beth ordered her.

Emily did as she was told.

"Now, drop your phone and your gun."

Angrily, Emily pulled her cell phone out and dropped it on the ground.

"Kicked it away."

She kicked it out and watched it slid away until it rest under a car.

"Your gun." Beth demanded as she pointed to the back of her pants.

Reluctantly, Emily did that and dropped it to the ground and kicked it under a car.

Beth unlocked the back seat, "Okay Jack, get in that other car now."

Jack looked from Beth to Emily uncertainly as he stayed where he was.

Beth sighed impatiently, "Let's go, Jack!" She yelled at him, scaring the little boy who began to whimper.

Emily frowned, "Beth, don't…."

Beth snapped her head around, "Don't what? Tell that brat what to do? Someone should! He's nothing but a spoiled brat!"

Jack began to cry even more as he sat in his seat.

Beth turned back to him as she glared angrily at him, "Shut up, Jack! Stop your crying, you little baby! Get out of the car now!"

He shook his head as he was crying even harder, his eyes squinch shut and his mouth turned down.

"Damn it Beth!" Emily exclaimed angrily. "You're scaring him!" She tried to move closer to them.

But Beth stepped in between them and shook her head, "Oh no, you don't, bitch!" She shouted. "Jack, get out of the car or I'll shoot Emily,." She fired the gun near Emily again; this time Emily did not flinch. But Jack literally jumped out of his seat at the sound of the loud booming sound as he held his hands to his ears and he began to get out of his seat and crawled out of the car.

Seeing this as her chance, Emily rushed at Beth as she pushed her against her car just as Emily yelled to Jack, "Run, Jack! Go to your Dad! Run!"

At that, Jack turned tail and ran off heading towards the stairs and vanished.

At the same time Beth, recovering her balance as she saw Jack running off and disappeared and screamed! She turned to Emily and fired just as Emily tried to knock it away from her hand but it was too late as it pierced Emily's left arm.

"God damn it!" Emily cussed as the intense pain pierced within her. "Shit!" Blood began to bleed out of the hole.

Beth, who was on her knees, began to scramble around looking for the gun and saw that it had fallen under the car.

Emily looked up and saw that Beth was searching for the gun and finding it she grabbed the gun and aimed it at Emily again, "Get up, Prentiss."

Emily glared at her as she slowly stood up, "You don't have the right to call me that, bitch."

Beth sneered at her, "I don't give a shit, get in the car now." She indicated at the driver's side.

Emily climbed in slowly as her hand was throbbing badly.

Beth hopped into the passenger side hurriedly.

"Start it up."

"There's no keys, bitch." Emily shook her head.

Beth ignored her, "Hot wire it, and don't tell me you can't do it; Aaron told me you're capable."

Pulling the under panel down, Emily then pulled the wires out and rewired them and soon was able to start the car, she looked over to Beth, "Where to?"

Beth named the Bank.

Emily frowned, "That's my bank."

Beth grinned, "I know."

"Why?"

"I made inquiries and realized you're pretty rich. So, you're going to the bank and make a big withdrawal."

Emily shook her head, "Beth, the money is tied up in trust funds. I can't take them out, not without my trustees."

"That's not my problem, you'll get them out or you die."

"Why are you doing this, Beth?" Emily drove out of the parking garage away from the Hoover building.

"That's my business." Beth said.

"You have a great job, you were about to marry Hotch…."

They were at an intersection waiting for the light to turn.

Beth hit Emily using the butt of the gun, stunning Emily for a while as she shook her head.

"Not anymore! You took him from me!" Beth screamed at her.

The light turned green as Emily released the brake pedal and began to drive.

Beth was looking out to the passenger side as she began to talk, "You have no idea how long I had worked on him. Six long months, and it took him more than two fucking months before he'd let me fuck him! He's such a damn stick." She shook her head. "But once I had loosened him," she grinned, "He liked it, oh yes… Just like any men, so easy. Spread your legs and you own him." She sneered.

Emily took the chance to grab the seat belt and silently belted herself into the car. Luckily as it clicked in, someone had honked a car horn and distracted her and she didn't hear it.

Emily breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the direction to the on-ramp for Interstate 95.

Taking the route, she made her turn and got on and merged with the busy traffic and drove Northwards.

Then she saw her last chance and took it at the same time she said a silent farewell to Hotch and Jack…as she suddenly pressed on the gas pedal and sped up to meet the back of the truck as she braced herself as she pulled her face down as the car hit on impact and she heard Beth screamed and flew forward while the car crunched and folded against the truck…

….

Back at the bull pen, it was a few minutes after Emily had left, after she had received the text from Beth, and had headed down to the garage, Hotch and Garcia came down from his office and gathered his team.

"Okay, guys," Hotch said to them and frowned as he looked around. "Where's Prentiss?"

The team looked about them, too, and shook their heads, "I guess she's in the ladies'"

Hotch nodded, "Okay, there's a rumor going around about my health."

The three nodded their heads.

"Let me tell you once and for all, I don't have cancer."

They all sigh with relief.

Reid then spoke up "What about the sudden inquiries about your …er health benefits? And insurance?"

Hotch turned his stern gaze towards Garcia who seemed to have shrunk beneath his stare, "First of all, it was none of anyone's concern as it's a personal issue which should have been kept confidential and unfortunately, I can't keep it that way no matter I requested that individual's discretion." He arched his brow at her. Then he softened slightly. "But I understand her concern, and I do appreciate it, however unfounded and totally misguided it was."

"So, who came to the wise conclusion that it was Hotch who had the cancer?" Rossi grinned at them, his arms folded across his chest.

Garcia shook her head, "I didn't tell anyone."

JJ, Reid, and Morgan reddened as they looked away.

Hotch and Rossi exchanged understanding glances, "Ah…the three stooges." Rossi chuckled.

Hotch shook his head, his dimples deepening as he watched them.

They all felt terribly embarrassed jumping to an awful conclusion on Hotch's nonexistence health crisis.

"Another thing…"Hotch continued as he was about to announce the serious situation about Beth but was interrupted when they heard some loud commotion outside the bullpen.

They all turned their attention towards the doors until JJ saw Jack amongst the agents surrounding him.

"Hotch! It's Jack!" She began to rush to the front of the door as Hotch, followed by the rest when they stood and saw an overly distraught Jack Hotchner and JJ exclaimed, "Jack! What's going on?"

Jack turned to look at JJ until he saw his Dad and rushed to him, "Daddy!" he wrapped his hands around his dad's leg. "It's Beth! She's has Emily!" As he cried all over again.

All at once, all hell broke loose the entire BAU team gathered around Hotch and Jack while JJ rushed to the ladies and soon came out shaking her head, "She's not in there, Hotch!" Her hand dialing for Emily's cell, frowning heavily she prayed that it was all a hoax or something. But as the line kept ringing and soon Emily's voice mail came on, JJ turned pale as she lowered her phone and shook her head as she looked at Hotch, "She's not answering, Aaron."

Picking up his son, Hotch carried him to the Bullpen and sat him on Emily's chair and tried to calm him down first.

"Hey buddy…"Hotch looked over at Emily's desk and saw a picture he had drawn for her. "Look, remember this picture of Emily's kitty you drew for her?"

Jack opened his wet eyes and looked and nodded as he began to sniffle, "Yeah, Daddy. Kitty was playing with me and he…he…sleeps with me."

Hotch nodded as he tried to smile, "Yeah, okay buddy, you're going to work with daddy, okay? You see, you're sitting on Emily's chair and you're playing superhero now."

Jack looked around and nodded, "Just like Daddy." He sniffed hard as JJ, standing near them handed a tissue to Hotch.

Hotch nodded as he wiped Jack's nose, "That's right, just like Daddy, Emily is a Super hero too. And right now she needs your help, can you help Emily?"

Jack thought for a moment and nodded, "But I'm scared, Daddy. Beth was mean to Emily."

Hotch's heart began to beat rapidly, "What did Beth do to Emily?"

Jack shook his head, "I'm scared Daddy."

"Jack buddy, remember Emily has a ouchie on her shoulder?" he nodded, "Did she have another ouchie?"

Jack nodded, "Beth shot her in her hand. Why, Daddy?"

The team gasped as they heard him.

Hotch looked up at them sternly but he turned his gaze back to his son, "Beth is having a bad day, Jack. We need to help her and Emily. Do you know where they are at?"

"The car park, where we park Emily's car." Jack revealed finally.

Derek was instantly gone, as well as Reid.

Rossi was on the phone while Garcia returned directly to her lair to co-ordinate.

"Buddy, you did great!" Hotch becoming teary gathered his son, "You did great."

"I work the case for Miss Emily, Daddy."

Hotch nodded as he broke down into Jack's shoulders.

Jack patted his dad's back, "It's okay, daddy." He patted him again. "Don't cry."

Wiping his tears quickly, he nodded, "I'm okay, buddy. I'm okay. I'm just worry about Emily."

Jack nodded, "I love Miss Emily too." He said solemnly.

Hotch looked at his son, "Yeah, me too. I love Emily too." JJ's eyes were wide with shock when she heard it but she refrained from commenting.

"Er…Jack, how about some snacks and a drink? And we can go see Garcia?" JJ offered as she looked at Hotch.

Hotch returned her gaze and nodded, "Thanks JJ."; she knew he wanted to go after Beth and locate Emily.

"Hey Jack, go with Miss Jareau, I'll be back. I have to get Emily back, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy." He nodded. "I love you."

"I love you too, Jack." He nodded at his son and left the bull pen.

JJ held her hand out and Jack too it as he slid out of Emily's chair and walked to Garcia's den.

Garcia turned around when she heard the door opened and saw JJ and Jack and upon seeing the young boy, she said, "Hey Jack, come have a sit." She pointed to an empty chair and pulled out her trolls and some papers and crayons she had set aside for kiddie visitors. Jack nodded and hoping on the chair began to play and color, his ordeal temporarily forgotten.

Rossi came in soon after, "Virginia PD has been notified. Any word?"

JJ shook her head, "Garcia's got the feed from the garage up."

Softly, JJ and Garcia were watching the video feed of the Bureau's parking garage as they replayed the whole thing.

"Oh my god! My Emily!" She flinched as she watched Emily being shot by Beth as her hand began to bleed. "She should be …."

"Pen…be careful…Jack." JJ warned her friend, mindful of Jack sitting near them, he was still coloring.

"Sorry!" Garcia apologized.

"Look," Rossi pointed out at the screen as they watched a green car leaving the garage. "They're in Agent Charlie Benson's car. Garcia, get the tag and put an APB out to the Virginia PD."

"Got it, Rossi." She began to type rapidly on her keyboard.

Ten minutes later, they received a phone call from Reid as Morgan was driving that there was a bad wreck on I-95 involving a green car and a semi-truck.

Hotch had called in, he was in pursuit and was behind Reid and Morgan.

"Garcia…there's an accident ahead…" Hotch called out on his cell phone; he had put it on speaker mode. "What's going on up front?"

"The car…what is it, Reid?" JJ called anxiously as Garcia watched her with dread.

Then they heard on the State Trooper reporting that the car had slammed hard against the back of the semi-truck and the car was badly mangled, the driver was trapped inside and the passenger, a woman was ejected from the car upon impact, she had died instantly.

Reid read off the tag that was reported by the State Trooper.

"Oh my god!" Garcia gasped out loud! "That's the stolen car… Emily's in it!" They were watching the aerial view from a helicopter cameraman footage; a green car or what was left of it was crunched against the back of the semi-truck as if it was a smashed up broken accordion, the front end was gone.

"…Emily!" Garcia uttered softly…" tears running down from her eyes.

"Talk to me, Garcia! What about Emily?" Hotch called out from his phone. "Garcia! Hello!"

….

End of Chapter 11


	12. Chapter 12

It's Always Been You – Chapter 12

.

"Morgan, Reid…It's Emily…she's still in the wreck." Rossi took over when JJ held an overly distraught Garcia.

"What?" Morgan was running towards the highway, Reid in tow. "Can you see any movement?" He was looking up in the sky, the helicopter was hovering above the wreck, it was now their eyes until they arrived at the scene. He could hear sirens approaching as an LEO was directing traffic.

He shook his head until Morgan and Reid showed him their badges and he nodded and waved them through.

"Reid!" Morgan was shouting amidst the noise and chaos. He had noticed the young agent had stopped short in front of the wreck and was staring at the crunched up vehicle. "Reid! Get over here!" he was waving him over. "I'm going to check on Beth."

Reid turned his head and walked to towards the car, "Derek…I…don't think…I can't…No…" He looked away.

Morgan frowned as he approached him, "Reid…it's Emily. She needs us right now. Come on, talk to her. I have to see about Beth, go!" He then hurried away, leaving Reid by himself.

Reid nodded and leaned into the car and took a deep breath and almost cried.

There was blood all over Emily as her face was covered completely with it. He noticed she had her seatbelt on and figured it was what saved her life. The steering wheel was jammed up right against her.

"E...Em...Emily…Emily…hey, it's me, Spencer."

Emily's eyes fluttered for a moment as she moaned, "Rei…"

"Yeah, it's me. Hey… um," he couldn't go on.

"Ja..." She uttered.

Presuming she was asking about Jack, he replied, "Jack's fine. He's with Garcia and JJ."

Emily tried to nod but began to groan.

"No…don't move your neck, Em!" Reid uttered as he reached in and held her head firmly. He saw some deep gashes in her forehead where blood was flowing from.

Reid looked up and frowned, "We need paramedics! Hurry!"

"Reid!" He turned around and saw Hotch approaching, his face was as pale despite the heat in the day and the sun shining down. "Where's she?"

"Hotch, it's Emily! She…she…must not move, her neck! Waiting for the paramedics…Did you know 67 % of spinal cord injuries are cause by mishandling of the injured victims of vehicular accidents….."

Hotch looked at him anxiously, "Reid….what are you talking about?"

Reid shook his head, "I don't know but I'm looking at Emily's possible neck injuries and I'm thinking that aside from her facial lacerations and head wounds, she might be suffering from internal injuries and…and…"

"Reid…Reid!" Hotch shoved at Reid as the young man was beginning to show signs of suffering from shock. "This is Emily we're talking about, Reid! My Emily!" He exclaimed to him as he shoved Reid's hands away from Emily. "Move away from her! I got it."

Reid released his hold slowly as he watched Hotch took over. "He...he said…my Emily? What does…does it mean?" He was frowning heavily." He looked at his hands which were bloody, "Emily is….hurt, Hotch…"

"Reid! Get the firefighters! She's stuck…I can't get her out! Her legs are wedged under the steering wheel! Go!" Hotch yelled to him.

Reid was looking at him dazedly, "But Emily is hurt, Hotch…hold her head, Morgan said I need to hold her head, so I should hold her head."

Hotch glared at him impatiently, "Reid! Get a hold of yourself! Firefighters! Go, now!"

Reid nodded blankly and turned away from Hotch and looked for the fire trucks. "Fire fighters…yeah, got to find them. Emily needs fire fighters…her legs…"

Hotch was breathing hard, "Em, babe…talk to me, it's Aaron."

"Aar…" Emily muttered. "Lov…yo…."

Morgan was standing next to Hotch as he watched him.

He nodded, "I know. I love you too."

Derek took a double take!

"Hotch! What are you talking about? Beth…and you?"

Hotch ignored him as he continued to talk to Emily in the confines of the crammed car.

"Can you hear me, Em?" He stroked her face gently through the blood slicking down.

"Lov…Aar…Marr…now…." She groaned.

Hotch frowned, "What're you saying, Em?"

She smiled briefly which amazed Hotch; he knew she was in pain as he could see her labored breathing. Morgan was leaning in next to Hotch as well.

"Princess, the firefighters are coming up, hang in there!"

"Don't talk, Em…save your breath."

"Noo…Aar…maarr…now…"

There it was again.

Hotch and Morgan exchanged confused looks.

"Em, I don't understand."

She lifted a bloody hand and held his left hand and touched his ring finger, "Marr…" She breathed out.

"Em, are you saying you want to marry?" He arched his brow.

"Yes…now…"

"Emily, do you know you're in wreck?" Morgan asked her.

"I …want… to marr…now…to you…Aar…"

Morgan shook his head, "You're not thinking straight, Emily. This is Hotch, he's engaged to Beth, remember?"

Hotch looked at Morgan, "No, Morgan. I'm not…anymore. It's a long story, Derek but it's Emily I love and she knows it."

Stunned, Derek stared at him, "Hotch, I think you're in shock and you don't know what you're talking about. Beth is dead and I'm sorry but you're…"

Hotch shook his head, "Derek, now's not the time. Emily is the one."

"Aar…marr…now…" She repeated. "Won't… go… down…not…marry… you."

He knew what she meant instantly, "I've to find a priest, babe." Hotch said. "I have to find a priest, I'll be back." He leaned in and kissed her. "Don't go without me, Em."

She grinned.

"Derek, hold her head…"

They changed position as a very confused Derek watched Hotch straightened and walked away.

A minute later, the firefighters, paramedics arrived at the same time as they began to work to get her out of the car.

They nodded at Morgan, "We've got her stable, sir. You can let go."

Morgan nodded and stepped back and bumped into Reid.

"Where's Hotch?" Reid asked.

"Something about a priest." He shook his head as if Hotch had lost his mind. "Do you know anything about Hotch and Emily?"

Reid narrowed his eyes, "What do you mean? He said 'my Emily' just now. I'm not sure."

"Yeah, he told her he loved her, and I thought he and Beth were getting married."

Reid nodded in confusion.

Hotch came back panting as he rushed to her, "I can't find a priest, Em!"

One of the paramedics looked up at him, "She's stable, sir. We don't need a priest. Don't give in so easily, my man."

Hotch shook his head, "It's not for last rites. She wanted to get married."

The man looked at Hotch as if he was ready to be committed, "Er, sir…."

Emily raised her hand again to stop the paramedic, "Mar…now.."

He looked down at her, "You're serious?"

She grinned as she couldn't move her head, they had put a stiff collar to immobilize her head and neck.

He glanced at Hotch, "Sir, is she serious?"

Hotch suddenly smiled at Emily, "Oh, she is. When she wants something, she'll have it."

The paramedics smiled, "Well, I've never done this before but there's a first for everything."

Hotch stared at him, "Are you a priest?"

He nodded, "Ordained and practicing, Father Jeff Brown from Saint Joseph Catholic Church and volunteer paramedics."

Hotch nodded his head as he couldn't shake his gloved hands, "SSA Aaron Hotchner, FBI."

The priest arched his brow, "FBI, huh?"

Hotch nodded, "And Emily Prentiss, she's an agent too."

"Well, this is certainly a good and blessed thing, I was not supposed to be on duty today but someone had called in sick and I happened to drop by and so, here I am!" He grinned happily and then looked up at his fellow paramedic, "Hey Burt! Is she stable?"

"Oh yeah, BP is good, heart is fine, she is a fighter." Burt grinned and turned to Hotch, "You're a lucky man, sir. But we need to get her out first, hang on."

The priest/volunteer paramedic nodded as he slid the stiff board behind Emily and began to strap her in and they pulled her gently out of the mangled mess that was her seat in the car.

Emily was groaning as she winced hard.

"Hang in there, Em…" Hotch grabbed her hand and squeezed it encouragingly.

"Okay…Emily?" The priest asked.

Hotch nodded.

"Emily, I need you to listen to my voice." Father Brown leaned in. "We're going to take you to the ambulance, you and your agent Hotchner will be…huh…married." He looked up grinning, "Wait, we need witnesses, at least two."

Hotch nodded as he stepped out of the mangled car and called out to Morgan, who was on the phone with Garcia, and Reid.

They came jogging in respond to Hotch's urgent calls, thinking the worse.

Hotch grinned at them, "Follow me to the ambulance."

He walked towards the vehicle, Morgan and Reid exchanged looks again as they followed their unit chief as the paramedics placed Emily on the stretcher and wheeled her to the ambulance.

Emily grabbed the priest's hand and said, "No…now…"

Father Brown shook his head, "Not right now, Emily, we're getting you in the ambulance."

She gripped his hand hard, "No….now…Maarry…."

The priest looked at her and suddenly grinned, "Okay…Emily, I see you're quite determined."

She grinned, "Love..."

"I hear you, agent." He chuckled, "Let me get everyone." He began to shake his head. "Okay Burt, you heard the lady…let's get her married and we'll head off, you'd better call the hospital first."

Burt, the other paramedic laughed, "What am I to tell them?"

The priest turned to him, "Tell them we're held up by a wedding in progress. The bride demands to be married or she'd shoot the priest! Right, agent?" He glanced at Emily."

She smiled weakly as she tightened her gripe on him.

He chuckled, "I'm glad we understand each other!" he returned the squeeze.

The three agents were waiting for them by the ambulance when they arrived.

Morgan who was still on the phone with Garcia said, "Mamma, let me call you back." He said as he was looking at Emily on the stretcher.

Hotch was right beside her with Father Brown.

"This is your witnesses, Agent Hotchner?" he asked.

"Witness?" Morgan looked at him. "Witness to what? Hotch, what is going on?"

"You didn't tell them?" the priest looked at Hotch who shook his head, his gaze intent on Emily.

"Okay, er…apparently, these FBI agents wanted to be married now." Father Brown explained.

"Married!" Reid exclaimed. "But…I thought...Hotch…you and Beth?"

Father Brown turned to Hotch, "Who's Beth? Uh, look, if you're married, I can't marry you again."

Hotch shook his head, "I was engaged to be married but I found out she had lied to me, and she is now dead. This woman is my love. I didn't know until recently. I love Emily and she loves me in return." They were holding their hands as they held their gazes at each other.

"Good enough for me," Father Brown grinned. "We need to hurry about this. The surgeon is ready for her at the receiving hospital."

Hotch nodded.

Morgan began to grin and stopped suddenly as he quick dial the phone.

"Hey pretty mamma! You gotta stay on the line for this…just stay on the line and put Jack on too." He held it out to the priest and nodded, "Okay, we can begin."

Hotch looked at Emily's eyes tenderly, "You're one heck of an unusual woman, Emily Prentiss but I wouldn't change anything. I love you very much." He leaned in and kissed her.

"Er, Agent…I haven't begun yet?" Father Brown tapped on Hotch's shoulder as he grinned.

"Sorry, I was eager…"

"I see, okay…everyone, ready?"

They all nodded while Emily squeezed Hotch's hand, "She's ready." He said softly.

…

"I can't believe they'd done it!" Garcia gushed as she sat on the passenger seat of Rossi's SUV.

"Unconventional but original." JJ laughed at the back seat.

"What's unconvensensal…?" Jack scratched his head as he looked up at JJ next to him.

"Unconventional, Jack…it means not regular." She chuckled.

"I still don't know what it means, big people use funny words." Jack shook his head.

They laughed at him.

"I know!" Garcia nodded, "I feel cheated. I want a big wedding for Hotch and Emily! I mean this is our Hotch and our Emily we're talking about!"

"Pen, you know Hotch is not into large wedding, and Emily is definitely not like that either." JJ pointed out.

"I know…" Garcia said disappointed. "And I can't believe it …Hotch and Emily? They snuck it under my radar!"

Dave glanced her peripherally, "Why?"

"Well, I thought it was Beth…not that I quite like her that much. She gives off a lot negative vibes."

"Garcia… Jack…" JJ warned her.

Garcia turned to watch Jack, "Oh, yeah. I forgot junior G-man in here."

"Agent Rossi?" Garcia turned to him, "Could you speed it up?"

Dave turned to glare at her, "I'm driving as fast as I can without breaking any rules, Garcia."

"But…but!"

He shook his head firmly, "No, sweets. Look, Emily is in surgery now, and we'll be waiting for her when we get there. It's no sense hurrying right now."

"But..."

"Zip!"

"I…"

"Shut it, Garcia!" He said as he shook his head.

"Can I…?"

"Ah! No!"

"Oh!"

"Can it!" He kept his gaze ahead of him as he drove on, Jack was giggling in the back seat.

"Pen," JJ leaned forward, "I'd listen to him if I were you, he'll stop and throw you out."

Garcia glanced at him peripherally and saw Dave's brow which was arched high and decided to clam up.

"Wise decision…" Dave muttered.

"…wait till you see what I'm gonna do to your bank account, Rossi." She volleyed back.

JJ shook her head in the back, "I'm glad I'm not involved."

"…touch my money, kitten, and I'll burn all your trolls."

Her eyes widened, "You wouldn't?"

"Watch me."

"You're not playing fair!" She sulked.

…..

"Aaron…." A soft voice uttered.

"I'm here, Em."

"I…can't move…"

He chuckled, "That's because you're in a cast, babe."

"Cast?"

"Do you remember anything, Em?" Dave asked her.

"Hey, Dave…no…wait, yeah…accident."

"That's right, kiddo," Dave said. "What do you think you're doing? Dare devil stunt?" he teased her.

"No…leap of …faith." She uttered.

Hotch and Dave began to laugh. "That is a bad joke, Em." Hotch said as he shook his head.

She smiled weakly, "Where am I?" Her eyes were still closed. "Shangri-La?"

"You wish, dear." Dave chuckled. "You're still in the hospital and it's no Shangri-La or El-Dorado."

"Hospital? How long?"

"Four days."

She frowned, "That long? But I'm supposed to get back to work."

The two men chuckled.

"Honey, you're not going anywhere for a while." Hotch smiled.

"Honey?" Emily blinked, "I was dreaming I was married."

Hotch came into her view and held her left hand up, "I'm afraid you're not dreaming about it."

A smile spread across her battered face as she looked at the gold band on her third finger. "It's not a dream?"

"No, Em. You and I did the deed. We're official, well somewhat."

Emily frowned as she looked at Hotch, "Wha…what do you mean?"

"If you'd remember…which you probably don't, we were married on a major highway and the marriage registrar is having some difficulty understanding the reason of the circumstances of the location."

She smiled, "Sorry, Hotch."

"Hey...it's Aaron now, remember?" He kissed her knuckles tenderly.

"Oh my! This is too much! Cover your eyes, Jack!" Derek grinned happily.

Garcia and Reid followed behind them, bearing flowers and stuffed animals.

As Emily was laid down flat on her back on the bed, she could not see them but she could hear their boisterous sounds as well as scented floral bouquet as they sat it nearby table.

Derek leaned over and kissed her cheek, "Hello Princess, glad to see you're awakened finally."

Jack grinned as Derek had picked him up and helped him leaned over so he could plant a kiss as well on Emily. "Hi…Miss Emily."

"Miss Emily?" Garcia exclaimed. "She's your step-mamma now! You must call her something beside Miss Emily!"

"Just Emily is fine," Emily said from her bed as Jack sat on the edge of the bed.

He nodded, "I like it."

Hotch nodded in agreement, "It's settle, then."

"But what happens if Emily has a baby?" Garcia asked him.

"Garcia, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Emily's still in traction for the moment, let's take it one day at a time."

"But I have a protest to make," She glared at him.

"Go ahead, Garcia."

"When Emily, our peach, is all well again, I must insist you two have a decent and proper wedding…at Rossi's."

Dave arched his brow, "I have no objection, in fact I like the idea and agree with Penelope on this. I'll pay for the whole wedding."

They all stared at the older agent with shocked expression.

"What?" Dave looked at them. "What's wrong? Did I say something wrong?"

"Dave," Hotch began. "You don't have to do this, I'll be more than happy to pay for the wedding ourselves, Emily and I."

"Yes, Dave." Emily chimed in.

Dave shook his head, "No, I insist. I don't mind doing it and really it'll be my wedding gift to the two of you."

Hotch looked at Emily, "What do you say, babe?"

She grinned, "Let him do it. We have to buy a house."

He chuckled as he went over to Dave and hugged the Italian, "Thank you, old friend."

"Hey, no problem, anything for my favorite family," he looked at Hotch meaningfully.

Hotch nodded, touched by his sincere gesture.

"Hello? Is she awakened?" JJ, Will and Henry came in soon after as she greeted everyone and saw the entire BAU family in the room.

Garcia rushed to JJ and broke the happy news to her.

"That's great! When's that happening?" JJ grinned from ear to ear

"When I'm walking again," Emily said. "I'm not rolling down the aisle on a wheelchair, crutches or any walking devices."

They all laughed at her.

"Daddy,"

"Yeah, buddy?"

"Can I call Emily …Mommy?"

Hotch tightened his hand on Emily's grasp. "Is that what you want, Jack?"

The young boy nodded. "Mommy says it's okay."

Emily began to blink rapidly as tears fell from her face.

Hotch was feeling emotional too as he went to Jack and gathered him into his arms. "It's okay if you want to do that, I'd like it very much."

Jack nodded into Hotch's shirt, "Mommy says Emily is my new mommy 'cause I told her I love her."

Hotch nodded, "Yeah, I told mommy I love Emily very much too."

"Hey!" Emily uttered. "Can I have a hug here too?"

Jack pulled away from Hotch as he leaned down and hugged Emily, "I love you, Mommy."

"Oh, baby, I love you too!" Emily reached around and wrapped Jack into her body as she cried.

Garcia was crying into Derek's shirt as he held her.

JJ was blinking her eyes rapidly as she held back her tears.

Reid was doing the same thing.

….

Epilogue –

It was the talk of the BAU wedding in the Bureau of the century!

Okay, I'm exaggerating.

According to JJ and Penelope, it was the most beautiful wedding ever!

Six months after the horrific wreck, Garcia got her wish; a big lavish wedding between Aaron Hotchner and Emily Prentiss.

It was a highly anticipated event for everyone involved.

Even the Catholic priest who'd married Hotch and Emily at the scene of the accident was asked to re-officiate their wedding officially which he was more than happy to do so; of course the happy couple made a generous donation to his church as well as a big donation to the fire and paramedics department he'd volunteered at.

Ambassador Elizabeth Prentiss and her husband were at the wedding; she certainly would not want to miss her only offspring's nuptial!

Her father had reluctantly given her away but he was proud of gaining such an honorable and respectable son-in-law, not to mention a delightful step grandson in Jack!

They danced into the night…Emily and Aaron; they had not stopped laughing and smiling since they said 'I do'… again.

Everyone was happy for them, it was a very happy occasion and it could not have happened to a much deserved couple than them.

As they rode off to their honeymoon, a wedding present from the Ambassador and Mr. Prentiss, a one-week trip to Paris.

Garcia and JJ almost salivated as they waved them off to their happy journey as Jack was to stay with JJ and Will.

Reid who was still holding the bride's bouquet was smiling shyly at the few of the remaining female party guests while Derek was whispering encouraging yet futile words to the resident genius.

Dave Rossi and Erin Strauss were observing the wedding, "Well Erin," he poured more wine into her glass and his to her, "I'd say it was a very successful wedding."

Erin nodded, "Yes it was, Dave. You done well, you were a marvelous host."

"Saluté," he raised his glass to her."

She raised hers, "Congratulations."

….

In the back seat of the car, heading to Dulles Airport;

"How are you feeling, Mrs. Prentiss-Hotchner?" Aaron asked her, smiling as he held her hand.

She returned his smile, "I'm still on a high." She giggled. "I don't think I'd want to come down from this happy drug."

He nodded as he chuckled; his dimples had not stopped deepening since the beginning of the wedding. "Me too."

She grinned, "You're okay with this?" She meant her last name.

"If it pleases you, Emily, and as long as my name is still in there, I'm happy." He picked up her hand and kissed her knuckles.

She beamed, "I'm very pleased. Mr. Hotchner." She teased him.

He looked at her intently, "I love you."

She leaned in to him, "I love you too."

They kissed for a very long time, all the way until they arrived at the airport.

….THE END…..

**Thank you to Everyone! Who reviewed every chapter! Of this story and read it. **

**This could not have happened without your encouragement and support and words!**

**Thank you! and please review to this last chapter, let me know what you think!**

**Love!**

**No, there will not be a sequel to this story but there is a new story in the works! I know another Hotch/Emily shipper story **

**Look for it tomorrow! Title: Viper Strikes Again!**

**Oh yes, He's baaack! **


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